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Indian rupee

BOMBAY: The Indian rupee ended slightly weak on Friday on corporate dollar demand and short-covering by banks, dealers said.

"The short-covering was triggered by dollar purchases made by a large state-run bank which was presumably buying for oil import requirements," a treasurer at a private bank said.

The rupee ended at 43.61/6125 per dollar, off its low of 43.6175 and compared with Thursday's close of 43.57/5775.-Reuters

Indonesian rupiah

JAKARTA: The Indonesian rupiah firmed slightly against the dollar on Friday, boosted by the restarting of international loans which had been stalled for months.

The rupiah was quoted at 7,390/7,420 against the dollar compared with 7,415/7,435 in late local trade on Thursday.

"The rupiah this morning retraced its recent steep losses, boosted by the loan disbursement news, but it pared the gains due to falls in the Singapore dollar," one European bank dealer said.

The World Bank said on Friday it will disburse a $300 million loan tranche to Indonesia later in the day, the first such payment since lending was suspended over the politically charged PT Bank Bali scandal in the middle of last year.

Most of the deals on Friday were done at the 7,300 level. The rupiah was expected to settle between 7,300 to 7,400 ahead of a meeting between Indonesia and foreign donors scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

"Players are not expecting any surprises from the donors meeting. The loan release has given a clear signal that the international community supports the country's economic reforms," the European bank dealer said.

Bank Indonesia said 7.68 trillion rupiah in funds matured early on Friday.

The benchmark interbank overnight rate hovered around 9.5 percent for local banks and around 9.375 percent for foreign banks.-Reuters

Chinese yuan

SHANGHAI: China's yuan closed slightly higher against the dollar in active trade on Friday as local banks bought ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, dealers said.

The yuan ended at an intraday high of 8.2780 to one US dollar against 8.2782 on Thursday after touching a low of 8.2783.

"Yuan buying by domestic banks intensified in the past few days due to increased demand ahead of the Lunar New Year," said a local bank dealer. "But there was selling of the yuan at the 8.2780 level, preventing it from rising sharply."

Dealers said local companies needed more yuan for staff bonuses ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which is also traditionally a period of heavier spending.

The yuan was likely to move in a range of 8.2780 to 8.2790 before the holiday, they said.

The China Foreign Exchange Trade System will be closed from February 5 to February 11 for the holiday. Trading will resume on February 12.

The yuan closed lower against the Japanese yen at 7.8769 to 100 yen against 7.8361 on Thursday. It ended down marginally against the Hong Kong dollar at 1.0640 to HK$1.0 from 1.0637.-Reuters

Taiwanese dollar

TAIPEI: The Taiwan dollar closed with firm gains in busy trade on Friday as the central bank took only light action to buffer the impact of strong foreign equity fund inflows, renewing trading interest in the market.

CLOSE: T$30.709 to the US dollar, advancing from Thursday's close at T$30.78 but off an intraday high of T$30.693. The Taiwan unit has not seen a higher close since ending at T$30.601 on January 4.

TURNOVER THROUGH DEALERS: Very busy at US$742 million, up from US$400 million on Thursday as interbank players that had been dismayed by earlier rangebound trade came off the sidelines.

Dealers said the central bank had bought US dollars to smooth the local unit's rise, but refrained from its usual round of last-minute intervention.

"We had a truckload of US dollar sell orders waiting for the central bank but they did not get taken, so the Taiwan dollar should directly challenge T$30.65 tommorrow morning," a foreign bank dealer said.-Reuters

S Korean won

SEOUL: The South Korean won closed higher against the dollar on Friday on continued dollar inflows from exporters and foreign stock investors, dealers said.

Dollar buying by state banks, after the government's pledge for action against the won's appreciation, failed to stop the won from strengthening.

"Expectations of dollar supplies next week led market players to ignore dollar-buying intervention," said a local bank dealer.

The won closed at 1,120 per dollar against Thursday's close of 1,125.3.

It opened at 1,125.5 and moved between 1,119.6 and 1,125.5.

Just before the market's opening, the Ministry of Finance and Economy vowed action to stabilise the currency market if necessary.-Reuters

Philippine peso

MANILA: The Philippine peso closed weaker on Friday as some corporate dollar demand and the baht's slide reversed early gains.

The peso closed at 40.45 to the dollar against Thursday's 40.385. It reached a high of 40.31 in intra-day trades and a low of 40.49.

Local banks were selling dollars earlier in the session to cut their long positions but some banks later bought back to maintain comfortable positions with the expected hike in US interest rates next week, traders said.

"There was some corporate demand and people were also looking at regionals for lack of new information to trade on," a trader from a local bank said.

The baht was quoted at 37.48 to 37.55 to the dollar from 37.33 early in the session. The peso follows the baht because the Philippines and Thailand compete in the same export markets.

The market shrugged off the release of the country's gross domestic product growth in 1999 which came in at 3.2 percent, above market expectations of 3.02 percent.

The peso is expected to trade between 40.35 to 40.55 next week, they said.-Reuters