US Dollar Stronger Against Asian Currencies So Far This Year

Just a note to myself. On Star Business Asian currencies fall against US$ this year

• Tuesday March 3, 2009
  Asian currencies fall against US$ this year
  By YEOW POOI LING
  
  PETALING JAYA: Asian currencies continued to weakened further against the US dollar this year, fuelled recently by poor economic data in most Asian economies.
  
  In the past two weeks, the Korean won fell 10%, the baht dropped 3%, the Singapore dollar declined by 2.6%, the Indian rupee decreased by 6%, the rupiah slipped 1.8% and the ringgit lost 3% against the US dollar.
  
  Thailand and Singapore had reported contractions in their gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.3% and 4.2% respectively for the fourth quarter. The Singaporean government indicated further downward revision to GDP forecasts.
  
  Japan and South Korea, which are major exporters in this region, saw exports plummeting by 45.8% and 32.8% respectively in January from a year ago.
  
  According to UOB Singapore economist Ho Woei Chen, the weak economic data from Asia reinforced belief that the region would take a longer time to recover from the present crisis due to the doldrums in the exports segment.
  
  “In the near term, we are likely to experience further weakness in currencies. The US dollar is still the trading currency and for risk-averse investors, the US dollar is a safer shore relative to Asian currencies,” she said.
  
  CIMB-GK economist Song Seng Wun told StarBiz that while weaker currencies should bode well for exporters, “we can’t export our way out of trouble because external demand is so weak.”
  
  Although Asian governments had been proactively rolling out stimulus packages to cushion the impact, the effect of external demand was greater as “it’s a big component of aggregate demand,” he said.
  
  Economic data for Asian countries is expected to be poorer in the first quarter judging by the figures released so far.
  
  Japan, for example, saw January car sales tumbling more than 32% year-on-year. Technology manufacturing-based companies are downsizing, either reducing the number of shifts or overall headcounts.
  
  “Export orders are slumping across the region,” Song said, adding that there was little that Asian countries could fall back on given that the US, the world’s biggest economy, was still struggling.
  
  “The signs (so far) are not good. We’re in our worst recession ever,” he added.

I can still remember those shouting out loud that one should short the USD. How?

See also: Charts Of USD Vs Other Currencies On a One Year Time Frame