May 9th, 2008

KRW: Spot closed at the lows but short-covering on lower equities saw the pair bid up again
SGD: Selling from local names ubt good bids beneath 1.3700; Bob bought another 250 usd around 1.3717
- FM Tharman Shanmugaratnam said inflation expected to ease in H2
THB: Offshore curve very biddish, spot should try 32.00

EUR gained on hawkish comments from Trichet who indicated inflation is "disconcertingly high"
Bank of England kept rates unchanged at 5.0%

South Africa
ZAR dropped 1.9% to 7.74; weakest level since 25Apr
Gross gold and FX reserves droped to 34.3bn vs. gain of 0.6% in Feb
- change reflects valuation adjustments in value of USD + decrease in USD price of gold
- reserves important to cover rising import requirements because of highest c/a deficit in 36yrs of 7.3% of GDP
- FX reserves were up $151mm but gold reserves (which account for 10% of gross)) fell as gold price fell 7%