Most Asian currencies firmer

Most Asian currencies rose on Friday, led by the South Korean won, as investors picked up battered regional stocks, but investors treaded cautiously amid worries about the global economy. The won rose as high as 1,305.9 per dollar, up 5 percent from Thursday's domestic close, but later pulled back to 1,340 as local stocks reversed an early rally and turned negative.
The won tumbled nearly 10 percent on Thursday for its biggest daily decline in almost 11 years. South Korea's top financial officials held emergency talks on Friday to discuss ways to shore up confidence in the country's banks, which have been starved of dollar funding.
The Indonesian rupiah rose 0.9 percent to 9,775 per dollar at one point, but later edged back to 9,800 as local stocks faltered. "It's only reflecting the Dow Jones industrial average that went up more than 4 percent overnight, as everybody is eyeing the United States now," says Jakarta-based trader, who expected the rupiah to move between 9,750 and 9,850 for the day.
The Philippine peso rose as high as 47.89 per dollar, up about 0.4 percent from Thursday's close. "The peso is still tracking the move of Asian bourses - thus further retracing some gains in the dollar/peso," said a trader in Manila. The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 0.9 percent, taking its cue from a 4.7 jump in the Dow Jones industrial average, after an 8.2 percent slump in the previous day.
Meanwhile, the Indian rupee gained about half of a percent to 48.57 per dollar, rising further from a lifetime low of 49.3 hit last Friday. Some currencies did lose out despite the generally firm tone.
The Pakistani rupee fell 2.3 percent to a record low of 84 to the dollar after data showed a sharp drop in the country's foreign exchange reserves. The Taiwan dollar edged lower to 32.588 per US dollar from Thursday's closing of 32.537, which was the weakest finish in a year.
Singapore dollar eased to 1.4825 per US dollar. J.P. Morgan strategists Claudio Piron and Yen Ping Ho said in a note that they expected the Taiwan dollar and Singapore dollar to fall further as the trade-dependent economies were more vulnerable in the face of a global economic slowdown.
"We retain the expectation for growth-dependent FX in the region, including the Singapore dollar and Taiwan dollar, to remain under pressure as growth declines," they said. "However, with the Singapore dollar's nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) already trading at the weak extreme of the policy band, value to being long dollar/Singapore dollar appears modest," they said.
Singapore's central bank, which manages the currency within a secret trade-weighted band, eased its policy last week by shifting to a zero appreciation for the currency to spur economic growth as inflation eases. Although secret, strategists run their own estimates of how the currency is trading in relation to the policy band.