Most Asian currencies held steady on Friday as concerns over the troubled US financial sector eased, but the South Korean won hit a one-month low as investors covered short dollar positions.
The Singapore dollar hovered near 1.3510 to the US dollar, slightly off its record high of 1.3495 hit on Thursday, but analysts expect it to regain steam in the wake of the central bank's move to tighten monetary policy last week.
The Malaysian ringgit rose to 3.1435 per dollar, up a fifth of a percent from late Asian trade on Thursday."The ringgit is among our top picks to perform against the US dollar in 2008," analysts at ING said in a note. "We continue to expect the falling US dollar versus Singapore dollar to exert a strong pull on the ringgit, though we also expect the Singapore dollar/ringgit cross to remain close to the upper end of a 2.27-2.32 range," they said.
The won hit a one-month low at 1003.25 per dollar, down about 1 percent from late Asian trade on Thursday, as offshore investors rushed to cover their short dollar positions. "We did not see any real won buyers this morning, so it went down to below 1,000. But I think it's over-reaction from offshore," said a dealer at Kookmin Bank in Seoul.
Asian shares fell ahead of an earning announcement by Citigroup later in the day. The dollar held steady against the yen and euro, clinging to gains made the previous day as optimism rises about the outlook for the troubled US financial sector.
The dollar gained on Thursday, partly on relief that Merrill Lynch's earnings announcement did not contain any nasty shocks.Elsewhere, the Thai baht edged up to a three-week high at 31.37 per dollar.