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weekly currency roundup
Asian currencies mixed, yen and Australian dollar down
10/10/2005
HONG KONG, Oct 9 (AFP): Asian currencies were mixed, with the Japanese yen and the Australian dollar slightly down but many other currencies gaining against the greenback.
JAPANESE YEN: The yen was down against the dollar Friday from a week earlier but had bounced back from a fresh 16-month low against the greenback mid-week amid worries the US economy may slow down to press down American share prices.
The Japanese currency stood at 113.32-35 to the dollar late Friday, several hours before the United States announced smaller- than-expected job cuts in the wake of two hurricanes that devastated the US Gulf coast.
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR: The Australian dollar is expected to remain rangebound next week as markets assess the risk inflation poses to the US economy, dealers said.
At 5:00 pm Friday (0700 GMT) the Australian dollar was trading at 75.99 US cents, down slightly from the previous week's 76.07 US cents.
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR: The New Zealand dollar ended the week at 70.07 US cents in local trading, up from 69.27 the previous week.
Next week traders will be looking to the quarterly survey of business opinion Tuesday and August retail sales data Friday to help provide direction.
CHINESE YUAN: Chinese financial markets closed for a week-long national holiday.
HONG KONG DOLLAR: The US-pegged Hong Kong dollar closed the week at 7.7555 compared to 7.7575 last week.
INDONESIAN RUPIAH: The Indonesian rupiah closed stronger Friday at 10,030/10,040 to the dollar compared to last week's close of 10,280-10,300.
PHILIPPINE PESO: The Philippines peso rose to 55.805 to the dollar Friday afternoon from 55.977 on September 30.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR: The dollar traded at 1.6823 Singapore dollars from 1.6896 the previous week.
SOUTH KOREAN WON: The won closed at 1,037.20 won to the dollar Friday, compared with 1,041.10 won a week earlier, reflecting a globally weak dollar.
Dealers said should the dollar stay around 113.50 yen, the dollar-won exchange rate could fall below 1,035 won in the coming week.
TAIWAN DOLLAR: The Taiwan dollar declined 0.13 per cent over the week to end at 33.232 against the greenback Friday. It finished at 33.188 a week ago.
THAI BAHT: The baht appreciated against the US dollar in the past week because of anticipation that the Bank of Thailand will raise interest rates at the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting October 19, dealers said.
The Thai unit closed Friday at 40.83-85 baht to one dollar compared to last week's close of 41.03-06.
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