Investors turned bullish on the South Korean won and some of its Asian peers in the last two weeks, and also added some bets on the Chinese yuan, buoyed by optimism over possible measures to contain euro zone's debt crisis, a Reuters poll showed.
The poll of 10 forex analysts, taken over three days, found currency players bet on the won the most since mid-July and increased positions in the Singapore dollar to largest since late August. They were less bearish on the Indian rupee. The Reuters survey focused on what analysts believe are the current market positions in eight Asian emerging market currencies: Chinese yuan, South Korean won, Singapore dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Taiwan dollar, Indian rupee, Philippine peso and Malaysian ringgit.
For the won, 8 out of 10 analysts were bullish, while one was bearish and one neutral. On the Singapore dollar, 7 of 10 were optimistic and 2 neutral. Investors raised positions in the Chinese yuan slightly, although their bets still remained around a half of those made in mid-September as they exercised caution over Beijing's intention to appreciate its currency in the long run.
The poll came after the won and the Singapore dollar strengthened past resistance lines, indicating possible further gains in a near term. On Thursday, European leaders and banks reached a deal on a 50 percent writedown for private bond holders on their Greek debt, and agreed to recapitalise the continent's banks and scale up the size of a rescue fund.
In the previous survey published on October 13, investors turned optimistic on the Singapore dollar and the Malaysian ringgit but were neutral on the won.