(RTTNews) - Wednesday in Asia, most Southeast Asian currencies plunged against the U.S. dollar. The Indian rupee, Malaysian ringgit and the Philippine peso dropped to 2-day lows against the dollar.

But the Chinese yuan and the Taiwan dollar showed strength against the dollar.

Despite some profit taking after recent strong gains, most Asian markets surged higher today, however, were not any significantly pronounced as investors chose to exit counters at small rallies.

None too impressive cues from Wall Street and lack of triggers from the Asia-Pacific region appear to have made the participants a bit defensive today.

After a choppy ride, the Dow ended lower by 29.23 points yesterday as traders cut down long positions and took profits as data released by the U.S. Commerce Department showed a decline in housing starts in April to an annual rate of 458,000 units, compared to March's revised rate of 525,000 units, suggesting a strong reacceleration is still some way off. New restrictions placed on the credit card industry sent financial stocks tumbling down sharply.

Against the U.S. currency, the Singapore dollar fell to 1.4668 during early Asian deals on Wednesday. The near term support level for the Singapore dollar is seen at 1.47. The pair was worth 1.4632 at yesterday's close.
In early Asian trading on Wednesday, the Hong Kong dollar slipped to 7.7528 against the U.S. currency. This may be compared to yesterday's New York session close of 7.7518. On the downside, 7.754 is seen as the next likely target for the Hong Kong dollar.

Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department said yesterday that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 5.3 percent during February to April from 5.2 percent recorded in January to March. It was a touch lower than the expected rate of 5.4 percent. After discounting the seasonal factor, the unemployment rate increased to 5.3 percent from 5.2 percent.

Also, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Joseph Yam will step down from his post on October 1, the Hong Kong government announced yesterday. Financial Secretary John Tsang said the government was in the final stages of identifying Yam's replacement at the helm of the HKMA.

The Thai baht that closed yesterday's trading at 34.42 against the dollar dropped to 34.4850 in early Asian deals on Wednesday. If the Thailand currency falls further, it may test near term support around the 34.67 level.

Today, Thailand's central bank will announce its decision on interest rates, with analysts expecting the bank to pare the rate by 25 basis points from the current 1.25 percent to 1 percent even.

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