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DEPOSIT RATES

SINGAPORE: Asian dollar deposit rates were quietly steady in lacklustre trade with most traders sidelined ahead of tonight's release of the US weekly jobless claims and March producer price index (PPI) data, dealers said on Thursday.

Weekly jobless claims for the week ending April 6 are forecast to be around 379,000 compared with 408,000 reported in the previous week.

The PPI for March is expected to show an increase of 0.4 percent against a 0.2 percent decline reported in February.

"The market was quiet and featureless in the morning except for some position adjustments. Everyone is waiting for tonight's release of the weekly jobless claims and PPI figures but unless the numbers are way off market expectations, I don't think there will be much impact here, a local dealer said.

"Some people are also waiting for Friday's issue of the (US March) retail sales and consumer price index data for more clues to market direction", he said.

In short dates, Thursday/Friday and weekend slipped 1/4 percentage point each to a common 5-3/8 5-1/4 percent.

Week-fixed eased 1/16 point to 5-7/16 5-5/16 percent.

Among term rates, one-months was unchanged from Wednesday's 5-1/2 5-3/8 percent, six-months unchanged at 5-9/16 5-7/16, nine-month unchanged at 5-3/4 5-5/8 and twelve-months unchanged at 5-7/8 5-3/4 percent.-Reuter