The Philippine peso and Thai baht drifted lower on Friday as investors bought US dollars after Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke indicated monetary policy might have to be tightened as a recovery takes hold.
On Thursday, several Asian central banks intervened when their currencies hit multi-month highs, fearing their exports would become less competitive, but Indonesia's Finance Minister said on Friday that the country is not targeting a specific level for the rupiah.
PESO:
The peso eased to 46.61 per dollar, down a third of a percent from its year-high on Thursday,
"We are seeing some short covering," said a Manila-based dealer, adding: "Most players sold (dollars) at 46.45 and were expecting the peso to open much lower given the developments overnight." Still, the peso has gained 4.6 percent since the start of September, outperforming most emerging Asian currencies except the Indonesian rupiah and South Korean.
The analysts expected the peso to rise to 46.0 per dollar by the end of 2009 and 44.0 by end-2010.
BAHT:
The Thai baht eased as part of an Asia-wide retreat. On Thursday, several Asian central banks, including those in Thailand and South Korea, intervened by buying dollars to temper the rapid rise in their currencies.
Dealers said Thai exporters might pause in selling dollars, saying it has probably been oversold in the last four days.
S'PORE DOLLAR, RINGGIT:
Both Singapore dollar and Malaysian ringgit retreated after recent gains, tracking euro weakness against the US currency. "Dollar/ringgit is slightly higher but moves in a small range while US dollar/Singapore dollar is also up," said a trader.
Singapore dollar lost a quarter of a percent to 1.3927 per US dollar while ringgit eased almost 0.3 percent to 3.398 per dollar. Singapore's central bank is widely expected to maintain its zero appreciation policy next Monday.