The rupee rose nearly 1 percent on central bank moves to stop its decline while most emerging Asian currencies strengthened on Tuesday as softer US retail sales growth supported hopes for sustained Federal Reserve stimulus. The embattled rupee rose 0.8 percent after the Reserve Bank of India announced steps late on Monday to halt the currency's decline by tightening liquidity and making it costlier for banks to access funds from the central bank.
The rupee strengthened to 59.43/44 per dollar on Tuesday from a close of 59.89/90. Last week, it fell to a record low of 61.21. Foreign investors lifted the Taiwan dollar and the South Korean won to five-week highs. The Taiwan dollar also rose on exporters' demand and the won advanced on stop-loss selling of the greenback, although their gains were checked by caution over intervention by the authorities, traders said.
Regional currencies such as the Malaysian ringgit and the Singapore dollar found support from a stronger Australian dollar after the central bank was not as dovish as expected. The Indonesian rupiah bucked the regional appreciation trend, falling 0.2 percent to 10,030 per dollar, the weakest since September 2009, on local companies demand for the greenback.
Investors were awaiting Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's semi-annual policy report to the Congress on Wednesday and Thursday for more clues on the outlook of the US bond-buying programme. "Given some recent weak data such as retail sales, I don't think Bernanke would be hawkish," said Yuna Park, a currency and bond analyst at Dongbu Securities in Seoul.
"That will help Asian currencies to stabilise a little more in a short term. But the stabilisation would not last long as tapering within this year will be still on the table," Park added. US retail sales grew less than expected in June, data showed on Monday, indicating the world's largest economy may not be ready for the Fed reduction in quantitative easing.
The Taiwan dollar advanced up to 0.5 percent to 29.815 against the greenback, the strongest since June 10, on demand from foreign financial institutions and exporters. But traders stayed wary because of a move by the central bank to limit how much the island's currency appreciates. On Monday, the authority told banks not to accept foreign exchange orders from customers after 3:30 pm (0730 GMT), 30 minutes before the local market's close, traders said.
The move will let the central bank manage the Taiwan dollar's local closing with a smaller degree of intervention, traders added. The Taiwan central bank usually intervenes in the foreign exchange market to manage the domestic closing of the currency, according to traders. The won rose as much as 0.4 percent to 1,117.0 per dollar, the strongest since June 7.
The South Korean currency's gain accelerated as a break of 1,120 prompted stop-loss dollar selling, traders said. Some interbank speculators bought the dollar on dips amid growing caution over possible intervention by the foreign exchange authorities. Local importers purchased the greenback for payments. The won has a 100-day moving average at 1,118.1. Since early May, it has closed in local trade weaker than the average.
The currency may strengthen to 1,113.7, the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement of its depreciation between May and June, once the average is cleared. "Sentiment is against the won, but the market looked still long dollar," said a senior foreign bank trader in Seoul. "The won may turn lower if intervention absorbs those long positions," he added.
The ringgit gained as a strong Australian dollar caused speculators to chase it. Some of them reversed long positions in the greenback even though investors stayed cautious ahead of Bernanke's testimony. A senior Malaysian bank trader in Kuala Lumpur said the ringgit has room to strengthen a bit more.
Comments
Comments are closed.