ADB eyes unveiling ACU average around March: report.

TOKYO, Jan. 13 Kyodo

The Asian Development Bank is mulling releasing the Asian currency unit, or ACU, a notional unit of exchange based on a ''basket,'' or the weighted average of the values of currencies used in 13 Asian nations, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Friday.

The Manila-based regional lending agency will likely start publicizing the ACU as early as March to use it as a gauge to monitor fluctuations in the values of the 13 Asian currencies, the daily said in a dispatch from Manila.

The release of the ACU can be seen as an initial step toward the integration of Asian currencies just as the European currency unit, a similar floating exchange rate system adopted in 1979 at the start of the European Monetary System, was replaced with the euro in 1999, it said.

The move is part of the ADB's effort to make it easier to determine what contributes to fluctuations in the values of Asian currencies and how much these values vary vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar and the euro, the Yomiuri said, adding the ADB will release the ACU as a statistical index on its website with daily updates of the figure.

The 13 countries involved are the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, China and South Korea.