The South Korean won hit a one-month high and the Indonesian rupiah reached a fresh four-year peak as investors sensed funds coming in on revived risk appetite, spurring overall gains in their Asian peers, although intervention capped the rises.
Emerging Asian currencies are expected to stay firm as investors are looking for shares in countries with good economic fundamentals at a time of global economic recovery and ample liquidity, analysts said. "Where do you think investors will park their money after recent profit taking? With developed economies recovering and Portugal's problems not spreading, Asia is the best answer for now," said Jeong My-young, a currency strategist of Samsung Futures in Seoul.
Earlier, the won gained as much as 0.8 percent to 1,112.6, the strongest since February 21 as offshore players dumped dollar holdings to stop losses and built up fresh dollar short-positions The peso gained as investors expect the central bank to again raise interest rates later this year to fight inflation, although it was spotted buying dollars to check the Philippine currency's strength.
The peso threatened to strengthen past 43.300 per dollar, around the 61.8 pct Fibonacci retracement level of its November-January weakening. If the resistance line is clearly broken, it has room to fall to 42.960, the 76.4 pct retracement level. The rupiah got to a four-year high against the dollar on foreign fund inflows to Indonesia's stock markets. The Indonesian currency strengthened to as firm as 8,700 versus the greenback, the strongest since May 2007. The central bank was spotted buying dollars, which was seen preventing it from strengthening past the level, between 8,705 and 8,710.