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Indian rupee

BOMBAY: The Indian rupee recovered from early lows to end Friday unchanged from its previous close against the dollar while forward premiums ended lower on rising hopes of an interest rate cut, dealers said.

The rupee ended Friday, the last day of the financial year 1999/2000 (April-March), at 43.6025/6075 per dollar, off lows of 43.6225 hit in morning deals.

The Indian currency has slipped 2.7 percent during the year, an eventful period which saw elections and a border conflict over the disputed Kashmir region.

"There was some dollar demand early on. A foreign bank had a large outward remittance. Besides state-run banks also bought dollars in the morning," a dealer at a European bank said.

Towards the end of the day, dealers said some state-run banks sold dollars.

"Going into the new year, the overall outlook for the rupee looks positive. Exports are doing well and foreign investment flows are expected to improve," another foreign bank dealer said.

But an appreciation of the rupee looked unlikely as the central bank was likely to mop up the dollar inflows to beef up the country's foreign exchange reserves.

Forward premiums ended sharply down on heavy receiving sparked by rising hopes of an interest rate cut early in April.

Dealers said the market was expecting the central bank to cut interest rates early in April to facilitate a large government borrowing programme.

The six month premioum ended at 3.02 percent against the previous close of 3.33 percent.-Reuters

Chinese yuan

SHANGHAI: China's yuan closed slightly lower against the US dollar on Friday in quiet trade amid a dearth of news, dealers said. The yuan ended at 8.2791 to one US dollar against 8.2789 on Thursday due to speculative dollar buying after moving in a broader range of 8.2785 to 8.2842, they said.

"Supply and demand of foreign exchange from our corporate clients have roughly balanced over the past few weeks," said a dealer at a local bank.

China was expected to record a healthy trade surplus for March, which should support the yuan, dealers said.

The yuan was likely to move narrowly between 8.2780 and 8.2800 in the near term, they said.

There was no signs of central bank intervention in the tightly controlled market on Friday, dealers said.

The yuan closed slightly lower against the Japanese yen at 7.8480 to 100 yen from 7.8428 on Thursday. It closed higher against the Hong Kong dollar at 1.0632 from 1.0638. -Reuters

S Korean won

SEOUL: The South Korean won closed at a fresh 28-month high on Friday, firming despite intervention from state banks.

Traders said there were strong dollar offers from exporters and the bullish sentiment continued to support the won in line with yen's gains against the dollar.

The won closed at 1,106.0 to the dollar, up from on Thursday's 1,107.4 close.

"Every time the greenback threatened to fall through 1,106 won, state banks aggressively snapped up dollars to support that level," said a foreign bank dealer.

The won opened at 1,107.5 and moved in a tight range between 1,107.7 and 1,105.7, caught between dollar sales by exporters and foreign investors and the dollar buying intervention. Encouraged by Korea's rapid economic recovery, foreign investors had aggressively bought local stocks on the Korea Stock Exchange for the past 13 days in a row.

On Friday, they took some profits from recent gains and turned net sellers of 14.6 billion won worth of shares on the day.

The Korean unit has appreciated 0.24 percent on the week and 2.9 percent from the end of 1999.

In its latest move to slow down the won's rise, the Finance Ministry said in the late morning the government had finalised plans to issue around one trillion won in fresh foreign exchange stabilisation bonds in April.

But the market shrugged off the news.

"The market ignored the announcement," said another foreign bank dealer. "Timing has not yet been fixed for the issue and the announcement only strengthened the market belief that the government was running out of dollars to intervene."

The bullish won sentiment was also strengthened as the yen was seen bolstered versus the dollar in overseas markets, dealers said.

The Japanese currency was trading at 105.07/5.08, from an early low of 106.06 on Friday.

Seoul dealers said the movement of foreign stock funds would continue to be the main factor affecting the market next week.

"If foreign investors resume their buying again next week, the forex market should see the won break above 1,100," said a dealer at a city bank.

The six-month non-deliverable forward (NDF) won was quoted at 1,106.5/08.0 versus 1,108.0/19.5 late on Thursday.

The one-year won stood at 1,109.05/10.5 against 1,110.5/12.0.-Reuters

Philippine peso

MANILA: The Philippine peso ended at its day-low against the dollar on Friday due to domestic political concerns and pressures on regional currencies, dealers said.

Dealers said the nationwide transport strike on Thursday and a media report of a military plot to oust President Joseph Estrada worsened the weak investor confidence in the country.

"The region is weakening and you have negative domestic news probably reaching offshore funds, so they're staying out," a dealer with a foreign bank said.

The peso ended at 41.135 per dollar from the close of 41.075 on Thursday. It has weakened since opening at 41.055. Turnover fell to $120 million from the previous $219.6 million.

Offshore funds bought dollars in light of weak neighbouring currencies, such as the rupiah which succumbed to a likely IMF loan delay, and the baht which was approaching the 38 level.

Local firms, who had expected the peso to remain below 41, were now forced to buy dollars to meet immediate import requirements, dealers said. Dealers said banks' dollar purchases were supported by legitimate corporate demand because most banks were already long on dollars.

"You have to take into consideration that banks can only take up to $10 million maximum and without corporate demand, they'll have to dump it. There is no dumping so this is really money going out," another dealer with a local bank said.

Despite the weakness of the peso, now at a three-week low, the central bank did not raise its key overnight borrowing rate, now at 8.75 percent.

Central bank governor Rafael Buenaventura has said the slide in the peso was temporary, caused in part by a maturing $100 million euro-peso note.

He also denied talk of the central bank intervening in the market to support the peso.

Dealers said the peso will likely test the year-low of 41.15 on Monday.

If the regional trend continued, that level would be easily breached, they said.

Dealers placed the next major support for the peso at 41.50.-Reuters

Taiwanese dollar

TAIPEI: The Taiwan dollar reversed gains to close a touch softer against the US dollar on Friday, ending an eight-session advance as foreign funds showed signs of withdrawal in afternoon trade.

But dealers said US dollar selling by exporters had restricted the local currency's depreciation.

CLOSE: T$30.49 to the US dollar, slightly softer than on Thursday's close at T$30.482. On the smaller Cosmos market, the Taiwan currency ended at T$30.488 against its finish of T$30.465 on Thursday.

TURNOVER THROUGH DEALERS: active at US$525.5 million, but well below Thursday's hefty US$1.571 billion, the biggest volume on the island's main forex exchange since Taipei Forex Inc started trading in July 1994.

Cosmos turnover fell to US$136 million from a record US$304 million on Thursday.

The Taiwan dollar opened higher at T$30.45 to the US dollar and retained a firm tone for most of the morning session. The Taiwan currency slipped to as low as T$30.52 as foreign fund outflows pushed it lower. Foreign funds turned into net sellers of T$4.225 billion in local equities on Friday following net buying of T$4.647 billion on Thursday.

One dealer at a major trustee bank for foreign funds said short-covering US dollar buys from foreign banks which moved to build up positions ahead of a three-day holiday added further downward pressure to the local currency.

Taiwan's forex market will be closed on April 4 and 5 for national holidays.

Dealers noted US dollar sales by exporters offered support to the Taiwan dollar and slowed its fall.

Dealers said the market turned cautious after the central bank's active moves on Thursday to blunt a sharp appreciation of the Taiwan dollar, foreseeing a tight band in the near term.

For Saturday, dealers expected a trading range of T$30.46-T$30.52.-Reuters

Indonesian rupiah

JAKARTA: Indonesia's rupiah fluctuated on Friday as the market focussed on a planned fuel price hike which was eventually delayed indefinitely.

President Abdurrahman Wahid late on Friday decided to delay a controversial increase in fuel prices set for Saturday, saying the necessary mechanisms were not yet in place.

The rupiah stood at 7,595/7,615 to the dollar versus a high of 7,625 and a low of 7,540 earlier in the day. It was quoted at 7,600/7,630 in late local trade on Thursday.

"You can say the response is mixed. The decision to delay the hike will help ease political tension, but it gives the impression that the government is not consistent. It may also hurt the budget," one European bank dealer said.

Another dealer said one offshore bank had pushed the rupiah to a low of 7,620 before the announcement of the delay amid worries any hike would spark protest.

The move follows fears of major protests at the increase, of an average 12 percent, which was one of Indonesia's agreed objectives in its last letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund.

The last attempt to raise fuel prices was in May 1998 and was followed by mass unrest which led to the fall of former President Suharto after 32 years in power.

Bank Indonesia said 11.3 trillion in rupiah funds matured early on Friday. The benchmark overnight interbank rate hovered at around 9.375 percent for foreign banks and around 9.5 percent for local banks. -Reuters