Won hits 15-month high

The South Korean won hit a 15-month high on Monday and most Asian currencies held steady or edged higher after US and Chinese data stirred some optimism about the outlook for the global economy. Traders said suspected intervention by the local authorities helped to curb the rise in the won, which hit a high of 1,078.0 to the dollar, the South Korean currency's strongest level since September 2011.
The won rose after US jobs data on Friday showed a bigger-than-expected increase in payrolls in November. Data on Sunday showing growth in China's factory output and retail sales jumped to eight-month highs in November also lent support to Asian currencies. The regional currencies were resilient even after another series of data on Monday showed that Chinese exports were much weaker than expected last month.
"To be honest it's a little surprising that we haven't seen more of a reaction," said Rob Ryan, strategist for RBS in Singapore, referring to China's trade data. "The recent data and the tone of markets...suggests some optimism about the situation in China, and this would seem to undermine some of the optimism," he added. Although most emerging Asian currencies held steady or pushed higher, a few bucked the trend, including the Indonesian rupiah.
Market players said the rupiah came under pressure due to selling in non-deliverable forwards or NDFs, in a sign that the selling may have been led by offshore players. In one-month NDFs, the rupiah fell to 9,810 versus the dollar, its lowest level since September 2009, according to Reuters data. The rupiah has slid roughly 1.5 percent in one-month NDFs over the past two trading sessions, the biggest two-day slide since late May of this year.
"I suspect the main driver has been the very poor trade figures from last week," said Jonathan Cavenagh, foreign exchange strategist for Westpac in Singapore. Data last week showed that Indonesia had logged a record $1.54 billion trade deficit in October as exports fell more than expected and imports surged. One factor that has helped to lessen the rupiah's drop this year is a rise in overseas direct investment into Indonesia, said Satoshi Okagawa, senior global markets analyst for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Singapore.