Emerging Asia FX-Nervous about US housing data, baht firm

SINGAPORE, Sep 25 (Reuters) Most Asian currencies barely moved in early trades on Monday as markets waited for U.S. housing data to indicate whether the U.S. economy was slowing and how that might impact the region's exporters.

The nervousness and some anxiety over the political troubles in Poland, Brazil, Ecuador and Hungary kept the currencies rangebound.

An exception was the Philippine peso , which was three-quarters of a percent down from last week's 4-year highs near the 50-peso-per-dollar level. The peso hit 50.43 per dollar.

The Thai baht bucked the trend, continuing its rally from lows hit after last week's coup on relief after the military promised to appoint a new prime minister and reform the constitution and hold fresh elections towards the end of 2007.

The South Korean won was quoted around 944 per dollar, almost unchanged from Friday.

The Taiwan dollar hit a one-week low of 32.965 per dollar, before steadying around 32.92/3.

U.S. data on existing home sales is due on Monday, followed by numbers on new home sales on Wednesday. The figures could provide evidence of whether the critical housing market is slowing, in which case consumer wealth, consumption and Asia's exports could be hit.

The fears arose after last week's Philadelphia Fed business activity index produced its first negative reading in 3 years.

''A U.S. slowdown could impact Asia's cyclical economies like Korea and Taiwan,'' said ABN AMRO economist Irene Cheung.

Cheung said she was not that worried about the sell-off in Latin America, which she said was primarily due to domestic politics and had little to do with Asia's fundamentals.

Until the uncertainty over the U.S. economy cleared, currencies of domestically driven economies such as the Indonesian rupiah would do better on a relative basis, she said.

''In Thailand, a lot depends on the politics. Once the politics starts to settle, fundamentally Thailand is still a good story,'' Cheung said.

The baht was quoted around 37.30/35 per dollar, about 1.7 percent higher than last week's low of 37.95.

Philip Wyatt, UBS economist, said in a note to clients that currency and other asset markets needed to be convinced that the Thai administration will be able to cut interest rates and keep up short-term spending plans, while preparing for a new government in 2007.

''A visible timetable is needed both for the political modifications and the economic policies.

''Without one, there would be no benchmark by which markets could judge what is going on. Government actions would be buffeted by much more volatile markets, which in turn could make some policy action, such as cutting rates, harder,'' Wyatt wrote.

CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR Change on the day at 0251 GMT Currency Latest bid Previous day Pct Move Japan yen 116.38 116.36 -0.02 Sing dlr 1.5841 1.5823 -0.11 Taiwan dlr 32.935 32.907 -0.09 Korean won 944.40 943.80 -0.06 Baht 37.36 37.51 +0.40 Peso 50.36 50.18 -0.36 Rupiah 9190.00 9170.00 -0.22 Rupee 45.88 45.88 +0.00 Ringgit 3.6750 3.6720 -0.08 Change so far in 2006 Currency Latest bid End prev year Pct Move Japan yen 116.38 117.96 +1.36 Sing dlr 1.5841 1.6625 +4.95 Taiwan dlr 32.935 32.850 -0.26 Korean won 944.40 1011.60 +7.12 Baht 37.36 41.11 +10.04 Peso 50.36 53.09 +5.42 Rupiah 9190.00 9835.00 +7.02 Rupee 45.88 45.04 -1.83 Ringgit 3.6750 3.7790 +2.83 REUTERS SRS RN1132