Rupiah hits 7-week high ahead of central bank decision, stocks mixed
Rupiah up 0.4% to 16,110 per dollar
Bank Indonesia to keep rates unchanged - Reuters poll
Malaysian stocks touch over 3-year high
TSMC drops over 3% after Trump comment
By Shivangi Lahiri
July 17 (Reuters) -The Indonesian rupiah rose to a seven-week high on Wednesday ahead of the central bank's monetary policy decision, while most other Asian currencies traded in a tight range as investors continued to bet on U.S. rate cuts later in the year.
Equities in Malaysia .KLSE touched their highest level in more than three years, helped by a broad-based rally across sectors, while shares in Taiwan .TWII lost around 1% as chipmaking giant TSMC weighed on the index.
The rupiah IDR= rose as much as 0.4% to 16,110 per dollar, its highest level since late May, while the benchmark index .JKSE traded flat, as market focus turned to Bank Indonesia's (BI) monetary policy decision in a few hours.
BI is expected to keep its interest rate unchanged, according to a Reuters poll, but is expected to cut by a quarter-point in the next quarter.
"The central bank is expected to keep the policy sails steady when they meet later today, while continuing with its FX smoothening operations," Radhika Rao, senior economist at DBS, wrote.
The rupiah, which languished around four-year lows in late June, has now recovered some ground and is up over 2% since then, benefiting from intensifying bets on U.S. rate cuts and a soft dollar.
"Rupiah has benefited in terms of dollar weakening," said Nagaraj Kulkarni, co-head of Asia rates strategy (excluding China) at Standard Chartered.
"We have seen some relief on the inflation front in the U.S. and as a result, Fed rate cut expectations. That has led to some softening in the dollar and as an emerging market currency, in the rupiah as well."
Earlier in the month, President-elect Prabowo Subianto's team was quoted saying that the incoming government would maintain the status quo on the debt-to-GDP ratio, with the budget deficit capped at 3%.
"As of now, markets are obviously focused on the U.S. elections as well and not pricing in significant expansionary fiscal policy from Indonesia," Kulkarni added.
Elsewhere, currencies were rangebound: the Philippine peso PHP=, Singapore dollar SGD=, and Thailand's baht THB=TH edged higher, while the South Korean won KRW=KFTC was up 0.3%.
Among equities, the Malaysian benchmark .KLSE rose as much as 0.7% to the highest level since mid-March 2021. Stocks in Thailand .SETI rose around 0.5%, while those in the Philippines .PSI and South Korea .KS11 roughly fell by that much.
On the other hand, stocks in Taiwan .TWII lost up to 1%, weighed down by chipmaker TSMC 2330.TW which declined more than 3% after U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said Taiwan should pay the United States for its defence.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Singapore's June exports fall steeper than forecast
** Philippine central bank amends foreign exchange reporting rules
** Thai industrial sentiment at 2-year low in June, business group says
** Markets in India closed for a public holiday on Wednesday
Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0349 GMT | ||||||
COUNTRY | FX RIC | FX DAILY % | FX YTD % | INDEX | STOCKS DAILY % | STOCKS YTD % |
Japan | JPY= | +0.01 | -10.91 | .N225 | -0.28 | 23.00 |
China | CNY=CFXS | +0.00 | -2.35 | .SSEC | -0.34 | -0.29 |
India | INR=IN | - | -0.45 | .NSEI | - | 13.26 |
Indonesia | IDR= | +0.28 | -4.56 | .JKSE | -0.03 | -0.69 |
Malaysia | MYR= | +0.04 | -1.76 | .KLSE | 0.68 | 12.53 |
Philippines | PHP= | +0.12 | -5.03 | .PSI | -0.48 | 2.87 |
S.Korea | KRW=KFTC | +0.31 | -6.71 | .KS11 | -0.35 | 7.56 |
Singapore | SGD= | +0.10 | -1.76 | .STI | 0.09 | 7.74 |
Taiwan | TWD=TP | +0.03 | -5.77 | .TWII | -0.49 | 33.18 |
Thailand | THB=TH | +0.13 | -4.98 | .SETI | 0.48 | -6.23 |
Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
Asian stock markets https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill
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