SINGAPORE: The South Korean won hit a six-year high despite intervention on Wednesday as most emerging Asian currencies rose with upbeat global economic data boosting risk appetite, while a weaker Chinese yuan limited gains in regional units.
The Indian rupee outperformed regional units, rising to 59.70 per dollar, its strongest since June 16, as local shares hit record highs.
India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley warned on Tuesday against "economic populism", sparking hopes of tough fiscal consolidation measures in the upcoming annual budget due on July 10.
The won rose 0.3 percent to 1,009.0 per dollar, its strongest since July 2008, threatening to strengthen past the psychologically important 1,000 level.
That prompted the foreign exchange authorities to express concerns over one-sided trading in the currency market and traders said they bought dollar to stem further appreciation in the best performing Asian currency so far this year.
Exporters took the intervention as chances to buy the South Korean currency on dips.
Demand for the won is expected to increase as Aramco Overseas Co, a unit of state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco, said it had agreed in principle to buy Hanjin Group's entire 28.4 percent stake in South Korea's S-Oil Corp for about $1.95 billion.
The Taiwan dollar advanced as local stocks rose to their highest close in nearly seven years.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian rupiah fell on fresh concerns over the country's current account deficit and uncertainty over the presidential election next week.
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