The Indonesian rupiah had its largest loss in three months and some Asian peers also weakened on Thursday as investors covered dollar-short positions on intervention and anticipation of a rate hike by the European Central Bank. As of Wednesday, the baht had risen merely 0.4 percent against the dollar since March 17, a day before the yen-selling intervention by the Group of Seven rich countries, which prompted investors to return to riskier assets.
The rupiah posted its biggest percentage fall in three months as investors covered dollar-short positions with the central bank spotted buying dollars to check its strength. It lost 0.27 percent to 8,675 per dollar, the largest daily percentage loss since a 0.33 percent fall on January 7, according to Reuters' calculations. On Wednesday, the dollar/rupiah 14-day relative strength index fell to 13.135, the lowest since April 20, 2009, indicating the dollar has been oversold against the Indonesian currency.
The won edged down on temporary dollar demand linked to local companies' dividend payments to foreign shareholders and to heightened caution over possible intervention by the foreign exchange authorities.
The Taiwan dollar hit a fresh near two-month high against the US dollar on demand linked to stock inflows and for arbitrage. The Taiwan currency gained as much as 0.73 percent to T28.94 per the greenback, the strongest since February 11. The baht broke through 30.11 per dollar, the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level of its November-January weakening trend, although the central bank was spotted buying dollars.
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