Emerging FX-Asia's high-yielders rise as sentiment improves

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

SINGAPORE, Nov 19 (Reuters) The Philippine peso and Indonesian rupiah rose against the dollar on Monday as investor sentiment stabilised after last week's sharp sell-off due to concerns about the health of the U.S. economy.

The high-yielding peso rose as far as 43.24 per dollar, up 0.6 percent from Friday's close.

''The peso is very dependent on movements in global markets,'' said a trader in Manila. ''The peso is appreciating at the moment thanks to inflows over the weekend.'' U.S. stocks rose on Friday, while MSCI's measure of Asia Pacific stocks excluding Japan was largely steady on Monday.

Last week, it dropped 3.4 percent, marking its third consecutive week of losses.

The Indonesian rupiah, another high-yielder, rose as far as 9,278 per dollar, up almost 0.5 percent from late Asian trade on Friday.

Indonesia's central bank intervened on Friday to prop up the rupiah currency and is prepared to take more action if necessary, deputy governor Hartadi Sarwono told Reuters on Monday.

Sarwono also repeated that the fall in the rupiah, Asia's worst-performing currency against the dollar so far this year, was likely to be temporary.

''The rupiah just follows some other regional currencies,'' said a Jakarta-based trader, adding that investor sentiment was improving but remained cautious.

Last week, the high-yielders led a broad retreat in most Asian currencies alongside falling stocks, undermined by persisted concerns about the fallout from the U.S. subprime market crisis.

The Malaysian ringgit, which usually moves in line with high-yielders, briefly touched 3.3645 per dollar, up almost 0.5 percent from late Asian trade on Friday.

Elsewhere, the Singapore dollar rose to 1.4466 to the U.S.

dollar, up about 0.4 percent and shrugging off weaker-than-expected growth figures for the third quarter.

The Chinese yuan was little changed at 7.4274 per dollar, while the Thai baht, the Taiwan dollar and the South Korean won all moved in tight ranges.

CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR Change on the day at 0229 GMT Currency Latest bid Previous day Pct Move Japan yen 110.73 110.01 -0.65 Sing dlr 1.4470 1.4527 +0.39 Taiwan dlr 32.342 32.336 -0.02 Korean won 917.20 917.20 +0.00 Baht 33.85 33.84 -0.03 Peso 43.25 43.50 +0.58 Rupiah 9290.00 9320.00 +0.32 Ringgit 3.3640 3.3805 +0.49 Yuan 7.4275 7.4257 -0.02 Change so far in 2007 Currency Latest bid End prev year Pct Move Japan yen 110.73 119.01 +7.48 Sing dlr 1.4470 1.5337 +5.99 Taiwan dlr 32.342 32.585 +0.75 Korean won 917.20 929.50 +1.34 Baht 33.85 36.08 +6.59 Peso 43.25 49.03 +13.36 Rupiah 9290.00 8988.00 -3.25 Rupee 39.32 44.26 +12.55 Ringgit 3.3640 3.5270 +4.85 Yuan 7.4275 7.8051 +5.08 (Editing by Neil Fullick) Reuters SKB VP0900

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