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Asian currencies rebounded on Wednesday as investors bought back regional stocks after the Federal Reserve's rescue of insurer American International Group eased fears of a financial system meltdown. The South Korean won jumped about 4 percent, leading the rally in Asian currencies, which tumbled on Tuesday after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, triggering a sharp sell-off in Asian assets.
The won briefly hit 1,110.9 per dollar, boosted also by suspected dollar-selling intervention by the authorities. The Philippine peso gained about half of a percent to 46.94 per dollar and the Malaysian ringgit rose to 3.4295 per dollar. The Indian rupee bounced more than 1 percent from its biggest single-day fall on Tuesday with the help of the stock market rebound and the central bank's pledge to continue its support for the currency.
"Asian equity markets are generally higher on the back of the slightly stronger close to the Dow. In line with this, many Asian currencies have come off their lows," said Callum Henderson, chief currency strategist at Standard Chartered Bank. The Fed will provide American International Group a bridge loan of $85 billion and take an 80 percent stake in the ailing firm. In response, the MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan stocks index rose 0.8 percent, after hitting a two-year low on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian rupiah gained 0.8 percent to 9,373 to the dollar, its highest level since September 11. "It is more on long unwinding, but problems in the US financial industry may hold the rupiah from strengthening too much," said a trader in Jakarta. The Chinese yuan rose to 6.8320 per dollar, clinging to its gain of about 6.7 percent against the dollar so far this year - the top performance in the region.
Analysts believe Asian currencies could weaken further in the near term due to the financial turmoil and concerns about the global economic outlook. "The easing of risk aversion trades keeps Asia ex-Japan currencies firm, but given the strain in money markets and dollar shortage across the globe, the worst is still not over," said Suresh Ramanathan, a strategist at CIMB.
Elsewhere, the Pakistani rupee hit a record low at 77.55, weighed down by weak economic fundamentals and concern over tensions between Pakistan and the United States resulting from US military action against militant targets on Pakistani territory.

Copyright Reuters, 2008

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