Asian FX, stocks gain ahead of Jackson Hole meet
.
Indonesia stocks hit record high
Taiwan dollar notches gains
China leaves benchmark lending rates unchanged
By Archishma Iyer and Sherin Sunny
Aug 20 (Reuters) - Indonesian stocks hit a record high on Tuesday among buoyant emerging Asian equities, while the rupiah led gains among currencies as investors looked out for further hints on a September rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
The MSCI International Emerging Market Currency Index .MIEM00000CUS rose 0.2% to touch a fresh record high, while the Indonesian rupiah IDR= gained as much as 0.5% to trade at 15,470 per dollar,hitting its highest since early January.
"We view the Asian currency rebound as a recovery of the losses from the Fed’s 'high for longer' rates stance in the first half of this year," senior FX Strategist Philip Wee from DBS wrote in a client note.
"There is scope for the South Korean won, Philippines peso and Indonesian rupiah to play catch up in recovering this year’s losses," he added.
Other currencies such as the Taiwan dollar TWD=TP rose 0.2%, while the Singapore dollar SGD= and the Philippine peso PHP= traded flat.
Investors will focus on the JacksonHole symposium later this week, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is likely to acknowledge the possibility of a rate cut in the September meeting.
That could boostriskier Asian assets and drive a weakening trend in the dollar, with inflationalso easing in most emerging Asian economies.
The dollar index =USD drifted lower overnight, although it stayed steady during Asian hours at 101.96.
"(EM Asia) central banks have room to cut interest rates. However, they are not in a hurry as they are avoiding capital flow and exchange rate volatility and will likely only ease once U.S. policy interest rates begin easing," analysts from S&P Global Ratings said in a note.
Central banks in Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea are set to meetthis week, where all three are expected to stand pat on rates, contrasting with the Philippines' central bank decision to slash its main policy rate last week.
Moreover, inflation prints from Singapore and Malaysia during the week are likely to set the tone for their respective central banks' stances.
Elsewhere, China left its benchmark lending rates unchanged as expected. The yuan CNY=CFXS traded flat while stocks .SSEC fell almost more than 1%.
Among Asian shares, the Jakarta benchmark .JKSE advanced as much as 0.9% to a record high, and up for the third straight day. Manila stocks .PSI climbed as much as 1.7%, nestled near their early April highs.
Others such as Singapore .STI, Bangkok .SETI, Taipei .TWII and Seoul .KS11 traded between 0.1% and 0.8% higher.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** "We're going nowhere" - Thai opposition figuresays court interventions must stop
** Philippinesraises $442 mln from reissued T-bond offer
** BOJ highlights rising wage pressure from structural job market changes
Asian stocks and currencies 0701 GMT | ||||||
COUNTRY | FX RIC | FX DAILY % | FX YTD % | INDEX | STOCKS DAILY % | STOCKS YTD % |
Japan | JPY= | -0.29 | -4.04 | .N225 | 1.80 | 13.74 |
China | CNY=CFXS | -0.07 | -0.65 | .SSEC | -1.05 | -3.75 |
India | INR=IN | +0.11 | -0.68 | .NSEI | 0.54 | 13.69 |
Indonesia | IDR= | +0.48 | -0.48 | .JKSE | 0.85 | 3.54 |
Malaysia | MYR= | +0.18 | +5.03 | .KLSE | -0.24 | 13.07 |
Philippines | PHP= | +0.05 | -2.11 | .PSI | 0.80 | 7.67 |
S.Korea | KRW=KFTC | +0.13 | -3.38 | .KS11 | 0.83 | 1.56 |
Singapore | SGD= | -0.11 | +0.76 | .STI | 0.59 | 4.16 |
Taiwan | TWD=TP | +0.19 | -3.86 | .TWII | 0.09 | 25.09 |
Thailand | THB=TH | +0.03 | -0.57 | .SETI | 0.51 | -6.05 |
Reporting by Archishma Iyer and Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates and Nivedita Bhattacharjee
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.