EXCHANGE RATES | Dollar holds up against most Asian currencies

Key Asian currencies ended the week mainly down against the US dollar as the greenback continued to strengthen amid hopes that the subprime credit crisis is over.

JAPANESE YEN: The yen surged against the dollar in the past week as players took a breather after buying up the US currency on hopes that the worst of the recent credit crisis on Wall Street is over. The yen stood at 103.50 to the dollar on Friday, up from 104.62 a week ago.

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR: The Australian dollar's performance next week will be closely linked to wages data and expectations about the central bank's thinking on interest rates, dealers said. The Aussie was trading at 94.23 US cents at 5.00 pm (0800 GMT) Friday, up more than a cent on the previous week's 92.90 US cents.

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR: The New Zealand dollar ended local trading Friday at 77.20 US cents, slightly down from 77.77 the previous week.

CHINESE YUAN: The yuan closed at 6.9916 to the dollar Friday on the exchange-traded market, compared with Thursday's close of 7.0078, and a closing price of 6.9870 to the dollar last Wednesday. On the over-the-counter market, it ended at 6.9918 to the dollar against 7.0052 the previous day.

HONG KONG DOLLAR: The dollar finished the week at 7.7962 to the greenback, unchanged from the week before.

INDONESIAN RUPIAH: The rupiah ended the week's trading at 9,242/9,253 to the dollar compared with 9,230/9,235 a week earlier.

PHILIPPINE PESO: The Philippines peso fell to 42.480 to the dollar on Friday afternoon from 42.345 on May 2.

SINGAPORE DOLLAR: The dollar was at 1.3712 Singapore dollars on Friday from 1.3628 the previous week.

SOUTH KOREAN WON: The won, which had weakened for seven days in a row to touch the lowest level since November 2005 on Thursday, rebounded slightly to close at 1,044.70 won per dollar Friday.

TAIWAN DOLLAR: The Taiwan dollar fell 0.65 percent in the week to May 9 to close at 30.653 against the US dollar. The local currency closed at 30.455 a week ago.

THAI BAHT: The Thai baht depreciated against the dollar this week due to high demand from importers and low demand from exporters, a dealer said. The Thai unit closed Friday at 31.96-97 baht to one dollar compared with last week's close of 31.71-72 baht.