HONG KONG. Jan 24: Strong support from offshore buyers shoved the Australian dollar into the limelight over the week as the currency gained sharply on the Greenback, reports AFP.

The Aussie lead a pack of slight gainers which lost strong starting positions through profit-taking later in the week.

The Japanese yen also gained ground, but was expected to fall at the start of trading Monday with uncertainty over the fate of Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa s political reform bills.

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR: The Australian dollar surged more than one US cent during the week as overseas investors ought to snap up domestic shares and bonds closing Friday at an eight-month high of 70.21 US cents and sharply up from last week's close of 68.93 US cents.

"Strong offshore support for Australian equity and credit

markets facilitated the dollar's rise.', said Schroders Australia economist Bernadette Fulton.

On the Reserve Bank of Australia's Trade-Weigh ted Index, a basket of .major trading currencies, the Australian dollar advanced to 53.5 points from last Friday's 52.7.

JAPANESE YEN: The yen closed the week at 111.30 to the US dollar, up 0.45 yen from a week earlier, but was expected to' lose ground in the political turmoil following the rejection of anti-corruption bills in the upper house.

After opening the week higher at 1 1 1.25. the yen rose . as institutional buyers Ibad the way to 1 10.77, the highest close in the past month.

But the currency fell back Thursday on reports that the US trade deficit with Japan decreased before regaining some ground Friday as players sat on the sidelines, waiting for the upper house vote after the market closed.

HONG KONG DOLLAR: The

Hong Kong Dollar which is pegged to the US dollar around 7.8 ended the week at 7.7243 7.7253 to the Greenback, compared to 7.723 reached a week ago. The effective exchange rate index on Friday was 127.2.

INDONESIAN RUPIAH: The .Indonesian currency closed Friday at 2.120 rupiah against the US dollar, or one point weaker, than the previous week's finish.

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR: The New Zealand dollar closed Friday worth 56.41 US cents, up sharply from Its close a week ago at 55.81.

The Kiwi gained six-tenths of a cent through the week but ended shorter on profit taking Friday after trading In a tight range.

PHILIPPINE PESO: The Philippine peso fell to 27.837 against the US dollar this week from 27.799 the previous

SINGAPORE DOLLAR: The Singapore dollar strengthened

to close at 1.1020 Io the US dollar Friday from 1.1060 the previous week. The local cur rency consolidated in the early part of the week before weakening to 1.1118 Thursday.

SOUTH KOREAN WON: The won strengthened to 810.50 to the US dollar; from 811.00 won a week ago as exporters sold more dollars on the market.

TAIWAN DOLLAR: The US dollar was worth 26.434 Taiwan dollars Friday or 6.1 cents less than last week s closing rate of 26.495.

THAI BAHT: The Bank of Thailand's Exchange f Equalisation fund on Friday fixed the official mid-rate to one US dollar at 25.52 baht, against the previous waek's 25.55 baht

The Greenback was down slightly against the baht be cause of short-term profit taking on dollars as Germany * Bundesbank ruled out a further rate reduction on Thursday, a dealer said