Asian currencies rose this week, led by Indonesia’s rupiah and the South Korean won, as reports signaling a global recession is easing bolstered demand for riskier assets.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of shares and the Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-traded currencies excluding the yen, both reached their highest levels since October after US home sales jumped the most in seven years and China’s manufacturing expanded for a third month. Equity funds investing in the region’s emerging markets took in US$1.54 billion in the week ended Wednesday, EPFR Global said.
The rupiah advanced 3.8 percent this week to 9,930 per dollar in Jakarta, strengthening beyond 10,000 for the first time in more than seven months. The won gained 1 percent to 1,243.15 in Seoul.
The won approached a seven-month high of 1,225.97 reached on May 11 as global funds bought US$552 million more of the nation’s shares than they sold this week and exporters repatriated overseas income.
The New Taiwan dollar this week weakened 0.4 percent against the greenback, falling to NT$32.720 at the 4pm local close yesterday, from NT$32.607 on Friday, Taipei Forex Inc said.
Elsewhere, the Philippine peso gained 0.2 percent to 47.24 this week, the Malaysian ringgit weakened 0.2 percent to 3.4965 and the Singapore dollar fell 0.2 percent to S$1.4469.
The US dollar advanced the most against the euro since April this week and rose to a four-week high versus the yen after a US government report showed employers cut fewer jobs last month than economists forecast.
The greenback climbed against almost all of the other major currencies as a slower deterioration of the labor market supported bets dollar-denominated assets will gain as the US leads the global economy out of a recession.
The dollar on Friday appreciated as much as 1.8 percent versus the euro, the biggest intraday gain since April 27, before trading at US$1.3966 at 4:01pm in New York, compared with US$1.4183 on Thursday. The dollar rose 2.4 percent to ¥98.85, from ¥96.58, after touching ¥98.89, the highest level since May 8. The euro climbed 0.8 percent to ¥138.01 from ¥136.97.
The pound traded near its lowest level this month against the US dollar as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown rearranged his Cabinet amid calls for his resignation.
Sterling slid 1.2 percent to US$1.5977 after touching US$1.5941, the weakest since last Friday. It briefly erased its decline as the US jobs report spurred speculation that demand for Britain’s assets will rise.
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