The Indonesian rupiah was the biggest gainer, creeping towards highs of 7,500 to the dollar, after the government on Friday announced a wide-ranging reform package aimed at ending the financial crisis.

The United States welcomed the 117-point programme, Jakarta's third agreement with the IMF in less than three months, and offered the country $1 billion in trade finance.

President Suharto said on Monday the reforms would be consistently implemented.

Dollar sales out of Jakarta overwhelmed bids near the 7,700 level, but dealers expected the psychological 7,000 level to pose a stiff barrier.

"I think the market is still sceptical overwhether Indonesia can stick to the reforms or not," a US bank dealer in Singapore said.

The Indonesian government said last week it expected the exchange rate to stabilise at below 6,000 rupiah per dollar. Inflation was expected to exceed 45 per cent in 1998 and the real gross domestic product to decline by five per cent.

Elsewhere, the Singapore dollar slid below 1.59 to the US dollar on the back of dollar buying by local names from the 1.5820 level.pThe Malaysian ringgit was stuck in a range, with interest focused on the yen's moves, though dealers said the dollar looked well bid at 3.60 ringgit. Interest in the Thai baht was stifled by a three-day holiday for the Songkran festival, leaving the currency to track moves in the dollar/yen rate in slow trade. Thai central bank governor Chaiyawat Wibulswasdi said on Friday that short-term money market rates would be kept below 20 per cent while the baht remained relatively stable.

The Philippine peso posted solid gains as traders returned from a four-daybreak to a much stronger yen and firmer Asian currencies.

The South Korean won ceded its early gains as the yen slipped from its highs, but traders said the market remained upbeat following a positive response to last week's South Korean sovereign bond issue. The Taiwan dollar also reversed its early rise, falling below the T$33 support to the US dollar, as the yen weakened and foreign funds bailed out of the sagging stock market.

Dealers also attributed its fall to central bank governor Perng Fai-nan's comment that the domestic dollar's current value appropriately reflected trade conditions. Taiwan had a trade surplus in March after posting rare trade deficits in January and February.

The finance ministry announced last week that Taiwan's exports fell 6.4 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, and the island had a quarterly trade deficit of US$66.7 million, its first since the first quarter of 1981.