Asian currencies face new tests when trading resumes this week with uncertainty persisting in Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan and regional stock markets trapped in tight range trading.
Malaysia, already hit by worries over corporate failures and bailouts, received another blow when credit rating agency Standard and Poor's downgraded its long-term foreign currency rating, blaming worsening asset quality. The rating was lowered from "A" to "A minus," the agency said over the weekend, to reflect "deepening asset quality problems in the financial sector as the economy stagnates for the first time in over a decade".
The Malaysian ringgit closed Asian trading lower at 3.7650 from 3.6700 the previous week after a listed construction firm went under receivership and the government indicated it would not stop a controversial restructuring of Malaysia Airlines System Bhd.
Most regional units closed little changed from the week before in lackluster trade after the Easter holidays.
The Indonesian rupiah closed the week unchanged at 8,100 to the dollar after selling pressure was countered by rising interest rates designed to bring the currency to 6,000 by the year's end.
Indonesia and commercial banks agreed on a "framework" for voluntary debt rescheduling covering some $80 billion (£57.5 billion) in corporate obligations last week, but markets shrugged this off after both sides said they would meet again in May.
Japan, seen as the locomotive of a regional recovery, was stalled on the tracks as fellow Group of Seven (G7) industrial powers pressed Tokyo to overhaul its economy and failed to give a strong signal to bolster the yen.
Yen weakness spread to other Asian units but fears of Bank of Japan intervention capped the dollar's rise. The yen fell past 132 levels against the dollar before closing at 131.70.
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