Most Asian currencies barely budged in thin holiday trade on Tuesday, with the Chinese yuan briefly rallying to a 3-1/2-month high before retreating on corporate dollar demand, reports Reuters.
China's central bank lifted its official yuan midpoint to the highest level in over three months at 6.5416 per dollar, reflecting a strong spot yuan performance a day earlier.
That pushed the onshore yuan to a high of 6.5330 per dollar at one point in early trade, the strongest level since Sept.13, but it came off in the afternoon to be down on the day. Traders said corporate buying of dollars weighed on the yuan.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency against a basket of six rivals, was down 0.08 per cent at 0446 GMT.
"The (US) dollar may have weakened perhaps due to the month-end factor. Going to the month end, there might be a little bit of rebalancing taking place, and that could have led to the dollar selloff," said Sim Moh Siong, FX strategist at Bank of Singapore.
Among other regional currencies, the South Korean won was up 0.3 per cent, its highest in nearly four weeks, while the Taiwan dollar advanced 0.08 per cent, having risen as much as 0.2 per cent and hitting its highest in more than three months.
Markets in Philippine and Indonesia were closed for trading.
The Singapore dollar was little changed after November inflation and industrial production data didn't hold any major surprises.
Most Asian currencies hold steady
FE Team | Published: December 26, 2017 23:08:53
Most Asian currencies hold steady
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