Asian currencies lost ground against the dollar over the past week as the market took hawkish comments on inflation from US central bankers as another sign of higher US interest rates to come.
JAPANESE YEN: The yen fell against the dollar in the past week on the back of hawkish comments on inflation from Federal Reserve officials, dealers said.
The Japanese currency stood at 113.82 to the dollar late Friday, compared with 112.61 to the dollar a week earlier.
The yen declined to 114.18 at one point Thursday in New York on news of the death of the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which helped lift the US currency.
"The dollar has been helped by recent hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve senior officials," said Satoshi Okagawa, senior vice president of forex trading at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
"The market has been unwinding dollar short (sell) positions after those comments," he said.
The weakness of global stock markets also caused worries, but there were no obvious victims among the leading currencies due to the widespread market gloom.
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR: The Australian dollar lost further ground against the US currency as commodity prices remained under pressure and the greenback benefited from speculation about a US interest rate hike, dealers said.
At 5:00 pm Friday, the dollar was trading at 74.57, down on the previous week's 74.71 US cents.
Dealers said the Aussie was likely to be affected by changes in commodity prices in the coming week.
"The Australian dollar is likely to remain stuck in a broad 0.68 US to 0.80 US range, but over the months ahead it is vulnerable to a further correction in commodity prices," AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said.
"Fortunately, the Aussie never rose as much as commodity prices so is less vulnerable to falls in them and similarly signs that US interest rates have peaked should help the Aussie."
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR: The New Zealand dollar ended the week at 62.72 US cents, little changed from 62.70 the previous Friday.
The kiwi was underpinned late in the week by the decision of the central bank to leave interest rates unchanged. The decision was expected but Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard raised the central bank's forecast for inflation to 3.9 percent in the current quarter, adding it was expected to remain above three percent well into next year.
The bank has a mandate to keep inflation within a one to three percent band over the medium term, so despite slowing economic growth, the forecast strengthened the view that interest rates will not be cut in the next few months.
CHINESE YUAN: The Chinese yuan finished Friday at 8.0112 to the dollar, compared with 8.0089 the day before and 8.0215 on June 3.
Friday's central parity rate for the yuan was set at 8.0180 to the dollar. The central bank has a yuan-dollar trading band of 0.3 percent on either side of the midpoint.
HONG KONG DOLLAR: The US-dollar pegged Hong Kong dollar closed the week at 7.7622 from the previous week's close of 7.7581.
INDONESIAN RUPIAH: The rupiah ended the week weaker at 9,400-9,410 to the dollar Friday compared to the previous week's close of 9,260-9,270.
PHILIPPINE PESO: The Philippine peso fell to 53.17 to the dollar on Friday from 52.85 the week before.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR: The dollar was at 1.5919 Singapore dollars on Friday from 1.5787 the previous week.
SOUTH KOREAN WON: The won closed at 954.40 to the dollar Friday, down from 948.0 a week earlier, as the US currency remained strong against the yen in overseas markets and foreign investors sold South Korean shares.
Dealers said the dollar-won exchange rate was likely to rise further in the coming week.
TAIWAN DOLLAR: The Taiwan dollar closed at 32.450 against the US dollar, down from 32.080 a week earlier.
THAI BAHT: The Thai baht weakened slightly against the dollar over the past week amid thin trading due to strong expectations of more US interest rate hikes, dealers said.
The Thai unit closed Friday at 38.38-44 baht to the dollar, compared to 38.15-19 a week earlier.
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