EM ASIA FX-Thai tycoon sends Sing dlr to 11-yr high vs baht, Asia FX up

* Sing dlr up vs baht on Thai Bev' bids for F&N stake
* Won up on foreigners' bond demand; IRS hit by CD rate
probe
* Intervention talk, fixing-linked dlr demand hit peso

(Adds text, updates prices)
By Jongwoo Cheon
SINGAPORE, July 19 (Reuters) - Most emerging Asian
currencies rose on Thursday, thanks to strong U.S. corporate
earnings and construction data, while the Singapore dollar hit a
11-year high against the baht on hopes that a Thai billionaire
will launch a takeover bid for a Singapore company.
The South Korean won outperformed its Asian peers on foreign
investors' continuous bond buying, dealers said.
Appetite for riskier assets improved as firm quarterly
profits from U.S. bellwethers such as Intel Corp eased concerns
about a slowdown in earnings. Data showing that groundbreaking
on new U.S. homes rose in June also helped sentiment.
"I think it (the uptrend) goes for another day or so," said
Adam Gilmour, head of FX & derivatives sales of Citigroup in
Singapore, when asked how long the current bout of "risk-on"
buying would last for emerging Asian currencies.
"I look at the Australian dollar as a good risk proxy and
that looks quite strong now. There is still plenty of talk about
capital spending on energy and mining projects."
The Australian dollar hovered record highs against the euro
and a 10-week peak against the greenback as it found favour with
investors seeking yield and safety.
Gilmour said he prefers the Malaysian ringgit and the Indian
rupee, saying those units have been the laggards in the
risk rally.
The rupee is the second worst-performing emerging Asian
currency with a 4.2 percent loss against the dollar so far this
year.
The ringgit has gained 0.5 percent, but the rise is much
smaller than that of the Philippine peso, the Singapore dollar
and the won.
Still, most regional units have failed to clear technical
resistance lines yet on persistent worries about the euro zone's
debt problems and the gloomy global economic outlook.
Optimism around Asia is fading with growth in its biggest
economies slowing considerable this year, compelling central
banks to keep policy accommodative for longer, a Reuters poll
showed.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview posted
on her Christian Democratic Union party's website that "We have
not yet shaped the European project in a way that we can be sure
that everything will turn out well, we still have work to do,"
according to a media report.

SINGAPORE DOLLAR, BAHT
The Singapore dollar rose to 25.25068 against the
Thai baht, the highest since 2001 September on expectations of
demand for the city-state's currency linked to a S$3.8 billion
($3.02 billion) sale of Singapore Fraser and Neave (F&N)
stake to Thai Beverage plc.
The Thai company, controlled by tycoon Charoen
Sirivadhanabhakdi, said in a statement that it has agreed to buy
a 22 percent stake in conglomerate F&N from Oversea-Chinese
Banking Group, its insurance unit and the Lee family,
which is the banking group's biggest shareholder.

The deal limited the baht's gain against the U.S.
dollar, although some foreign banks bought the local unit amid
bond inflows to the country, dealers said.
The baht also faced technical resistance at 31.615 per
dollar, the 50.0 percent Fibonacci retracement of its weakening
during earlier this month.
The Thai unit is unlikely to break through the resistance
soon with domestic importers' dollar demand around 31.600,
dealers said.

WON
The won rose as foreign investors kept buying
South Korean bonds and on higher Seoul stocks.
But the South Korean currency again failed to clear a
technical resistance level at 1,138.0 per dollar, the 76.4
percent Fibonacci retracement of its depreciation during early
July, as domestic importers bought dollars on dips.
South Korean interest rate swaps (IRS) fell further on
stop-loss receiving amid a spreading inquiry in suspected
collusion in quoting the official certificate of deposit rates
.
Five-year IRS fell 5 basis points (bps) to
2.7350 percent and three-year IRS slid 5.75 bps
to 2.6975 percent.
"Give levels, it looks correct to take fresh bond swap
positions now. But it is also difficult to do so before the CD
issues are resolved," said a bond trader in a local brokerage.

MALAYSIA RINGGIT
The ringgit rose against the dollar as interbank
players bought it on improved risk sentiment.
But the Malaysian currency could not extend gains as
speculators took profits and on dollar bids from local
corporates around 3.1500 versus the greenback, dealers said.
Macro funds also bought the dollar and some investors
purchased the Singapore dollar versus the ringgit on
dips.
The local unit currently has a 55-day moving average at
3.1505 per the U.S. dollar. It has ended daily sessions weaker
than the average since early May.
A Kuala Lumpur-based dealer said the ringgit would be able
to clear the resistance only if the euro and the Australian
dollar extend gains.

PHILIPPINE PESO
The Philippine peso started local trade up 0.3
percent at the session high of 41.57.
But it turned lower as interbank players reduced bets on the
local currency amid market talk of dollar-buying intervention by
the central bank around 41.60 to cap its rallies.
But a European bank dealer in Manila said he has not seen
such intervention yet and dollar demand related to
non-deliverable forwards (NDF) fixing put pressure on the peso.

CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR
Change on the day at 0635 GMT
Japan yen 78.58 78.80 +0.28
Sing dlr 1.2560 1.2571 +0.09
Taiwan dlr 29.973 30.002 +0.10
Korean won 1138.54 1142.60 +0.36
Baht 31.65 31.72 +0.22
Peso 41.73 41.68 -0.12
Rupiah 9460.00 9440.00 -0.21
Rupee 55.39 55.48 +0.16
Ringgit 3.1510 3.1575 +0.21
Yuan 6.3711 6.3702 -0.01

Change so far in 2012
Currency Latest bid End prev year Pct Move
Japan yen 78.58 76.92 -2.12
Sing dlr 1.2560 1.2969 +3.26
Taiwan dlr 29.973 30.290 +1.06
Korean won 1138.54 1151.80 +1.16
Baht 31.65 31.55 -0.32
Peso 41.73 43.84 +5.06
Rupiah 9460.00 9060.00 -4.23
Rupee 55.39 53.08 -4.17
Ringgit 3.1510 3.1685 +0.56
Yuan 6.3711 6.2940 -1.21

(Additional reporting by Lim Seung-gyu in SEOUL, Saikat
Chatterjee in HONG KONG and IFR Markets' Catherine Tan; Editing
by Kim Coghill)

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($1 = 1.2586 Singapore dollars)