Asian currencies gained marginally against the dollar as concerns persisted over the effect record high oil prices would have on the world economy.
JAPANESE YEN: The yen gained slightly against the dollar during the past week, with investors remaining concerned over the possible impact of record oil prices on the global economy.
But the same concern was weighing on the yen gain as the high oil prices were also making the outlook of the economy uncertain.
Against the dollar, the Japanese currency was at 110.05 in Tokyo afternoon trade on Friday, compared with 110.59 yen a week ago.
"The dollar was lower on profit-taking and concerns over rising oil prices," said Tetsuya Aida, dealer at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.
At the same time, investors shied away from buying the yen as high energy costs could hurt the Japanese economy, which is entirely dependent on oil imports.
Apart from the oil factor, the dollar was also locked in a tight range as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of Friday's Bank of Japan key quarterly Tankan survey on business sentiment.
But a better-than-expected Bank of Japan Tankan quarterly business confidence survey failed to spark active yen buying.
"Although the Tankan survey showed an improvement, it had little impact on the yen because it was within the market's expectations," Aida said.
Aida said investors refrained from buying the yen due to concerns that the pace of economic recovery appeared to be slowing.
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR: The Australian dollar this week is expected to show more of the strength that saw it rally one US cent on Friday, buoyed by high commodity prices and a weak US dollar, analysts said.
The Aussie ended last week at 72.45 US cents, up from 71.21 cents the previous Friday, with most of the gains coming Thursday and Friday.
"The US dollar weakness and the focus on commodities acted to catapult the Aussie higher," said Macquarie Bank divisional director Geoff Bowmer.
Westpac Banking Corp chief currency strategist Robert Rennie said the US dollar was under pressure on all fronts after the IMF focused its attention on the US deficit problem and suggested there was likely to be a significant currency adjustment sometime in the future.
NAB analysts suggested the greenback's weakness was partly due to concerns a G7 meeting this weekend "might put in place a framework to engineer a weaker US dollar driven improvement in the US trade deficit at the expense of Asia."
But Bowmer said strength in commodity prices had acted to focus attention back on the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar and the Canadian dollar and he predicted the trend seen at the end of last week would hold up.
"That suggests to me that the Aussie dollar, having done this, isn't about to undo it in a hurry," he said.
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR: New Zealand's dollar closed Friday worth 67.84 US cents, up from 66.64 cents the previous week.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR: The dollar was at 1.6860 Singapore dollars on Friday from 1.6912 the previous week.
HONG KONG DOLLAR: Hong Kong's US-pegged dollar remained unchanged at 7.775.
INDONESIAN RUPIAH: The rupiah ended Friday weaker at 9,145/9,150 to the dollar compared with 9,115-9,125 the previous week.
PHILIPPINE PESO: The peso rose to 56.30 to the dollar on Friday afternoon from 56.38 a week earlier.
SOUTH KOREAN WON: The won ended at 1,148.80 won to the dollar compared with 1,149.50 won a week earlier.
TAIWAN DOLLAR: The Taiwan dollar ended at 33.940 against the greenback Friday compared with 33.981 a week ago.
THAI BAHT: The baht closed Friday at 41.36-38 baht to the dollar compared to the previous week's close of 41.38-40.
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