South Korea's won hit a 14-month low on Thursday, leading losses among emerging Asian currencies, after a top official said the government will manage the currency to make it move in line with the weakening yen. South Korean Vice Finance Minister Joo Hyung-hwan reportedly made the comments as the yen hit a seven-year low against the dollar.
A senior finance ministry official told Reuters later that the government was planning to manage the dollar-won exchange rate so that it does not move too far out of sync with other global exchange rates. The report caused offshore and local investors to push the won down as much as 1.2 percent to 1,096.8 per dollar, its weakest since September 6, 2013. Against the yen, the won pared earlier gains.
The won is seen weakening to 1,100-1,105, analysts said, with the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement at 1,104.3 of its appreciation between June 2013 and July this year. "The remark was strong enough to regard it as a declaration of war," said Yuna Park, a currency and bond analyst at Dongbu Securities in Seoul, referring to Joo's comment. "Investors should look for chances to sell the won on rallies for now with a target of 1,100 due to a weaker yen," Park added.
South Korea's President Park Geun-hye and senior officials have expressed concerns over the weakening yen. South Korean and Japanese companies compete for a similar group of products such as cars on major markets around the world. The yen hit a seven-year low after the Bank of Japan on October 31 unexpectedly eased its monetary policy. With the yen's weakness, the won hovered a near six-year high to the Japanese currency. The yen's weakness intensified as the dollar extended gains on expectations of a strong US jobs data due on Friday.
Most other Asian currencies also eased, but the Malaysian ringgit bucked the trend as investors covered short positions with intervention by the central bank spotted to support it. Other emerging currencies, not only in Asia, but also in Latin America and Eastern Europe, slid. Russia's rouble tumbled on Wednesday after the central bank effectively abandoned the trading corridor for the currency.
The Turkish lira weakened after rating agency Moody's said that the country's sovereign credit rating was unlikely to be upgraded soon and remained at risk of a cut. The Indonesian rupiah fell on corporate dollar demand. Most government bond prices also fell. The official Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR), which the central bank launched last year in an effort to manage exchange rate fluctuations, was fixed at 12,179 rupiah per dollar, weaker than Wednesday's 12,092.
The rupiah pared some of losses on caution over possible intervention by the central bank to support the currency. Some foreign banks bought the currency on dips, traders said. The ringgit rose as traders said the central bank spotted intervening to stem its slide. Earlier, the Malaysian currency weakened to as soft as 3.3450 per dollar to match Wednesday's low, which was the weakest since February 4.
Some leveraged funds bought the ringgit in non-deliverable forwards markets to take profits from the dollar's strength against it. The central bank is expected to hold its key interest rate unchanged at 3.25 percent at a policy meeting later in the day, a Reuters poll showed.
Comments
Comments are closed.