SINGAPORE: Emerging Asian currencies were mixed on Thursday as investors booked profits amid caution over whether Greece would agree on austerity measures to secure a second bailout fund, although many held out hopes for a deal within hours.
Most regional units fell early on disappointment a deal had not been reached, but later retraced much of their losses, while the Singapore dollar and the Philippine peso turned higher.
Greece's prime minister said political leaders had agreed on all points of a bailout package except one, while the country's finance minister said Greece and its international lenders also have yet to reach agreement on one issue.
Emerging Asian currencies had priced in a deal to prevent a chaotic default in Greece, so they suffered an inevitable correction, dealers and analysts said.
"Euro/dollar overpriced the conclusion of the Greek debt discussion which has yet to reach a consensus, thus the unwinding of long euro positions has a knock-on effect on Asia-ex Japan FX," said Suresh Kumar Ramanathan, regional rates and foreign exchange strategist for CIMB Investment Bank in Kuala Lumpur.
Most emerging Asian currencies have appreciated this year, fuelled by high liquidity and signs that the euro zone's debt crisis is easing.
The regional units are likely to stay firm as investors may continue to bring money to Asia, dealers and analysts said.
Underlining this view, pressure on emerging Asian currencies from faster-than-expected China's inflation did not last long either after the data failed to change hopes for more easing by Beijing to support the world's No.2 economy.
"The data did not indicate a policy shift to tightening and other recent data from Asia was not that bad. Most of all, global liquidity is still thirsty," said Jeong My-young, a currency strategist at Samsung Futures in Seoul.
"Upcoming economic data holds a key, but as long as the data does not point to a sharp slowdown, we will see sustained inflows," Jeong added.
Foreign banks lifted the Taiwan dollar to a five-month high against the US dollar as the central bank was not spotted buying greenbacks, dealers said.
The South Korean won eased on profit-taking, but the local currency erased most of initial slide on exporters' demand for settlements.
Comments
Comments are closed.