Asian currencies set for weekly loss as recession fears grow

Taiwan: Asian currencies headed for a weekly decline, led by South Korea's won and Taiwan's dollar, as stocks slumped on concern of a global recession.

“The foreign exchange is being easily swayed by any bad news in a market whose volume shrank sharply of late,'' Jo Hyun Suk, a currency dealer at Korea Exchange Bank in Seoul, said on Friday.

The won slumped 7.2 per cent this week to 1,437.95 per dollar, near the lowest level in a decade.

Taiwan's dollar lost 0.3 per cent on Friday and headed for its biggest weekly loss in 10 years after a government report on Thursday showed the export outlook worsened more than economists expected.

The Philippine peso fell 0.2 per cent to 48.94 per dollar, heading for a fifth weekly decline, as export demands fell.

Indonesia's rupiah was poised for a weekly loss on speculation that investors sold the nation's assets.

The rupiah fell 1.9 per cent this week to 9,999 per dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Elsewhere, the Thai baht fell 1.2 per cent versus the dollar this week to 34.69, and the Singapore dollar dropped 1.6 per cent to S$1.5060. Vietnam's dong weakened 1.5 per cent to 16,848.