Asian currencies broadly stronger

Asian currencies were broadly stronger on Monday as the Japanese yen threatened to rise to a multi-year high against the dollar, with sentiment helped by a calming of political tensions in Taiwan.
A weekend report in a British newspaper that Japan had ended its campaign to weaken its currency pushed the yen to an early high of 105.26 per dollar, but it weakened again on suspected dollar-buying intervention.
Still, the yen remained supported as the market debated whether the intervention policy was over. Ahead of Japan's fiscal year-end on Wednesday, dealers said repatriation of funds by Japanese remained a feature of some markets, such as Thailand.
"The Singapore dollar is getting incrementally stronger and the Taiwan dollar is thankfully holding stable," he said, also pointing to the Indian rupee, which had rallied in March to reach its strongest level in almost four years.
The Singapore dollar touched a four-month high against the euro on Monday, although it was at a seven-week low against the yen and flat against the dollar.
The Singapore dollar is managed in an undisclosed band against a trade-weighted basket of currencies.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore is due to review its policy stance in early April.
Piron said it was almost a formality that the yen would strengthen to three-and-a-half-year highs past 105 per dollar, and that would pull other Asian currencies higher.
The Taiwan dollar was boosted by an easing of political tensions after President Chen Shui-bian agreed to a judicial recount of votes in the disputed March 20 election. Taiwan's main stock index surged 5.6 percent on the lowered tensions, reaching its highest point since the election.
The stock market gains and Chen's move helped lift the Taiwan dollar to 33.20 per dollar, but it closed local trade shy of last week's highs.
The Korean won rose almost 0.3 percent, bolstered by the yen and exporters' selling of dollars before the end of the month.
However, there was some restraint to the bullishness as local companies were expected to increase dollar buying to pay dividends to foreign shareholders.
The Thai baht was the weakest Asian currency on the day, edging down towards 39.60 per dollar on Japanese repatriation, a weaker stock market and a weekend bomb attack that wounded 30 people in the country's Muslim south.
The Indonesian rupiah strengthened towards 8,600 per dollar, with the market still cautious about next week's parliamentary election even though campaigning has been relatively uneventful so far.
Turnover was thin in the Philippines, with the peso stuck near its record low of 56.45 per dollar.
The uncertainty surrounding the presidential elections in May is largely priced in, dealers said, and there was little news to drive flows.
Markets are awaiting Japan's "tankan" survey of corporate sentiment on Thursday and the US employment report on Friday, amid questions about the strength of the global economy as the European Central Bank has hinted it may need to cut interest rates.