Asia's currencies mostly rose against the US dollar in the past week on growing optimism over Japan's recovery and with expectations of a US rate rise already factored into the market.
JAPANESE YEN: The yen rose sharply against the dollar during the week, supported by increasing optimism over Japan's economic recovery, dealers said.
The Japanese unit stood at 107.33 to the greenback late Friday, up from 109.60 to the US currency a week earlier.
Yen-buying sentiment was strong as investors expected a key Bank of Japan survey, due out July 1, would show improving business confidence thanks to strong exports and rising capital investment.
The yen also rose against the dollar as investors continued to worry over the possibility of more terror attacks in Iraq ahead of the June 30 handover of power to an Iraqi interim government.
"Lingering worries about the Iraqi handover and expectations of an upbeat BoJ (Bank of Japan) Tankan survey should support the yen," said Makoto Misawa, currency strategist at Traders Securities.
On Thursday, the yen got a further boost after the government said the closely watched tertiary index in April increased 2.2 percent month-on-month, pointing to increasing activity in the service sector.
"The strong tertiary index data buoyed the yen this morning as investors welcomed it as confirmation that the Japanese economic recovery is on track," said Kosuke Hanao, head of forex sales at Royal Bank of Scotland.
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR: A rally by the Australian dollar is expected to stall next week amid expectations the US will hike interest rates and spark renewed demand for the greenback, dealers said.
The Australian dollar finished the week on 69.94 US cents, up from 68.22 US cents last week.
Currency traders said they expected the Australian dollar to hover around 70 US cents for some time.
National Australia Bank currency strategist John Kyriakopoulos said expectations a US rate rise will drive demand for US dollars had already been factored into the market, so the Australian dollar was unlikely to fall too sharply.
Westpac strategist Allison Montgomery said the currency remained constrained in a tight range that it appeared unlikely to break out of. "Effectively it's still in a 68-72 US cents range in my view, but I think that, given that some of the US data has started to disappoint on the downside, there's been nothing really domestically that's boosted the Australian dollar," she added.
She said the currency's recent gains were being driven by increasing confidence that the US Federal Reserve would continue to take a gradualist approach to raising US interest rates.
The US Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee meets next week and is widely expected to increase interest rates.
It has been a volatile first half for the Australian dollar, which reached a seven-year high of 80.07 US cents on February 18.
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR: The New Zealand dollar closed Friday at 63.19 US cents, up from 62.01 cents a week earlier.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR: The US dollar was at 1.7057 Singapore dollars on Friday from 1.7197 the previous week.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong's US-pegged dollar was at 7.7942 on Friday from 7.7992 the previous week.
INDONESIAN RUPIAH: The rupiah ended the week slightly weaker at 9,415-9,420 to the dollar compared with 9,405-9,410 the previous week.
PHILIPPINE PESO: The peso traded at 56.095 to the dollar late Friday, from 56.395 on June 18.
SOUTH KOREAN WON: The won closed at 1,149.80 won per dollar, down 5.9 won from the previous day and down 10.2 won a week earlier.
It was widely believed the government intervened to prevent further decline in the dollar when the dollar-won exchange rate fell to 1,150 won Friday.
TAIWAN DOLLAR: The Taiwan dollar rose 0.31 percent over the week to finish at 33.680 against the greenback Friday.
The currency finished at 33.785 the previous Friday.
THAI BAHT: The baht closed Friday at 40.87-89 baht to the dollar compared to the previous week's close of 40.92-95.
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