Thailand’s baht fell yesterday, snapping a 13-day rally that brought it near a decade high, as Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn said the nation is considering allowing exporters to hold foreign currency revenue for longer.Chalongphob’s comments came after governor Tarisa Watanagase said on Monday the central bank will propose new measures to limit currency fluctuations. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said “what we can do is try to stabilize the baht,” spurring speculation the authorities will purchase the US currency.
“It is probably dollar buying intervention by the Bank of Thailand,” said Tetsuo Yoshikoshi, a market analyst at the treasury unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in Singapore. “Since last Thursday, the market has been a little bit nervous about Bank of Thailand and Ministry of Finance moves. Now we don’t have many big sellers of dollars in the Bangkok market.”
The baht fell 0.3 percent to 33.35 per dollar in onshore trading in Bangkok. In the offshore market, the currency held at 30.15.
Indonesia’s rupiah fell for a second day on speculation some state-owned companies boosted demand for dollars to settle payments for crude oil imports.
Southeast Asia’s biggest oil and gas producer needs to import a third of its oil product requirements because its refining capacity is not sufficient to meet consumption. Pertamina, the state oil and gas company, said on June 12 it plans to import 4.5 million barrels of sweet crude oil for delivery this month.
Indonesia’s currency dropped 0.2 percent to 9,063. The rupiah may fall to 9,200 by the end of the third quarter.
The Malaysian ringgit fell on speculation deepening losses in US subprime mortgages will deter investors from buying more emerging-market assets.
The ringgit has dropped in the past two days as indexes based on the value of securities backed by such mortgages reached new lows. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index also fell 0.4 percent from near a record high, indicating investors are cutting holdings.
The currency declined 0.1 percent to 3.445. It may trade between 3.43 and 3.46 in the next month, Sivanesan said.
The Philippine peso gained for a fourth day, taking it to the strongest since September 2000, on speculation foreign funds were buying shares in initial public offerings.
The peso rose 0.7 percent to 45.24 against the dollar.
The Singapore dollar fell 0.1 percent to S$1.5171. The Taiwan dollar closed at NT$32.825, from NT$32.808 on Monday. BLOOMBERG
March 17th, 2008 at 7:59 am
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