Asian currencies mostly down against the dollar

Asian currencies ended the week mostly down against the dollar amid continued jitters about the state of the US economy, dealers said.
JAPANESE YEN: The Yen was at 107.43 to the dollar in Tokyo late Friday, still down from 106.78 to the greenback a week earlier amid lingering concerns about the US economy.
The Japanese currency hit the week's low of 108.23 to the dollar on Wednesday. After Tokyo's daytime trading on Friday, the US Labour Department announced that US employers had shed 51,000 non-farm jobs in July, marking a seventh straight month of job cuts as the economy struggles for momentum.
Despite fresh losses, the monthly government snapshot was not as bad as feared as most economists had predicted 75,000 jobs would be lost during July. The job numbers were released ahead of a looming interest rate meeting of the Federal Reserve set for Tuesday. The central bank is widely expected to keep its federal funds rate firmly anchored at 2.0 percent.
But as long as the market view remains that the next move in US interest rates will be a hike, the dollar is likely to remain "stable to firmer over the next few weeks," National Australia Bank analyst Peter Jolly said. The greenback lost ground Thursday after US economic growth came in weaker than expected in the second quarter and eurozone inflation scaled record peaks.
US growth was 1.9 percent, better-than-revised first-quarter growth of 0.9 percent but short of market predictions of 2.3 percent. "Although the yen remains weighed down by low interest rates at home, it may not simply go down against other major currencies as the US housing loan crisis is spilling over to the eurozone and Oceania," the business daily Nikkei said on its Internet edition on Friday.
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR: The Australian dollar is expected to fall against the greenback next week as an economic slowdown lowers the prospect of further interest rate hikes, dealers said.
At 5:00 pm (0700 GMT) Friday, the Australian dollar was trading at 93.65 US cents, down more than two cents from the previous week's close of 95.82 US cents. AMP Capital Investors chief economist Shane Oliver said the currency could fall sharply in coming months.
"The rapid downturn in the Australian economy is making it harder to see parity being reached in the short term," he said. "In fact, with the market now pricing in rate cuts the ride for the Australian dollar could be pretty rough over the next six months with a fall back to around 85 US cents a distinct possibility.
"The long-term trend in the Aussie is likely to remain up though in response to the long-term rising trend in commodity prices, but for now it is starting to look like parity has been postponed."
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR: The New Zealand dollar ended local trading Friday at 72.74 US cents, from 74.28 the previous week. The dollar has been falling as an easing cycle in interest rates gets under way and the US dollar is recovering.
CHINESE YUAN: The yuan closed at 6.8435 to the dollar Friday on the exchange-traded market, compared with Thursday's close of 6.8304, and a closing price of 6.8188 to the dollar last Friday.
On the over-the-counter market, it ended at 6.8425 to the dollar against 6.8318 the previous day. The central bank had set the yuan central parity rate at 6.8423 to the dollar Friday, compared with 6.8388 on Thursday.
The People's Bank of China allows a trading band of 0.5 percent on either side of the midpoint.
HONG KONG DOLLAR: The US-linked Hong Kong dollar finished the week at 7.804 to the greenback compared with 7.799 the week before.
INDONESIAN RUPIAH: The rupiah ended the week's trading at 9,100 to the dollar compared to 9,125 to the dollar a week earlier.
PHILIPPINES PESO: The Philippines peso fell to 44.225 to the dollar on Friday afternoon from 44.070 on July 25.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR: The dollar was at 1.3698 Singapore dollars on Friday from 1.3602 the previous week.
SOUTH KOREAN WON: The won closed at 1,014.60 to the dollar Friday, compared with 1,009.20 won a week earlier. The won weakened on rising demand for dollars, as foreign investors were selling local stocks and refineries were settling bills for oil imports.
The dealers said they expected the rate to move in a tight range between 1,012 to 1,017 won to the dollar in the week ahead.
TAIWAN DOLLAR: The Taiwan dollar fell 0.78 percent during the week to close at 30.645 to the US dollar, from 30.407 a week ago.
THAI BAHT: The Thai baht fell against the dollar over the past week amid uncertainty over Thailand's political situation and an easing of concern in the US financial sector early this week. The baht closed Friday at 33.52-55 baht against the dollar compared to last week's close of 33.43-45.