The Indonesian rupiah rose on Thursday as investors moved to take profits from the dollar's recent rally against the unit, while other Asian currencies failed to make headway despite firmer regional stock markets. The dollar eased against the euro, a day after getting boost from the Federal Reserve, which gave no indication to change its stance to spur the economy and from suspected dollar-buying intervention by the Swiss central bank.
RUPIAH: The high-yielding rupiah gained almost 0.7 percent to 10,260 per dollar as investors took profits from the dollar's recent rally. "It's due to profit-taking on long dollar positions," said a Jakarta-based trader, who expected the unit to move between 10,250-10,350 for the day.
The rupiah is still down over 3 percent from June 5, when it hit its highest level since October 2008. The unit remains the best performer in Asia with a gain of 7 percent against the dollar so far this year. Six-month dollar/rupiah NDFs dipped to 10,632, implying a 3.4 percent rupiah fall from the spot compared to 4.1 percent on Wednesday. The NDFs traded 63 points below onshore forwards with the same tenor, reversing from 20 points above onshore in the previous day.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR: The Singapore dollar gained a tenth of a percent to 1.4560 per US dollar, taking its cue from the euro's modest gains against the US currency. "It's very euro-driven, as euro/dollar is up, investors sell the US dollar against Singapore dollar," said a trader in Singapore.
The Singapore dollar has lost nearly 1 percent so far this month, part of a broad retreat in Asian currencies amid doubts about the strength of a recovery in the global economy. The Fed kept its key interest rate close to zero on Wednesday following reported intervention by the Swiss central bank by selling the Swiss franc for dollars and euros, which sent the dollar up nearly 3 percent against the franc.
WON The South Korean won fell against the dollar on Thursday as importers chased the US currency for settlements on fears of higher raw materials prices and expectations of further gains by the dollar. The won came under further pressure as some market players covered dollar-short positions, which they had built on heavy local stock purchases by foreign investors and on the government's upgrade of its economic outlook.
The South Korean currency was quoted at 1,288.7/9.0 per dollar as, compared with Wednesday's domestic close of 1,283.5. It strengthened to as firm as 1,271.9 earlier.