However, the next best foreign exchange performer among Asia's leading currencies is the Hong Kong dollar: a surprising contender given that for the past 25 years it has been pegged to the US dollar.
The Hong Kong dollar's strength over the past week especially, has been sufficient to force the territory's Monetary Authority to intervene in the currency markets in New York this week to stop the territory's dollar from bursting out of its monetary corset.
The point of Hong Kong's currency peg is to encourage trade and investment by setting a stable exchange rate. The mechanism, which was introduced in 1983 after a run on the territory's currency, ties Hong Kong's currency to that of its biggest trading partner.