Most Asian assets rise on Powell's dovish tilt; rupiah, ringgit lead gains

Reuters

Most Asian assets rise on Powell's dovish tilt; rupiah, ringgit lead gains

2024 8월 26 일, 오전 5:30 GMT

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>EMERGING MARKETS-Most Asian assets rise on Powell's dovish tilt; rupiah, ringgit lead gains</title></head><body>

Jakarta stocks hit record high

Indonesia's rupiah hits a near one-year high

Malaysian ringgit hits highest in more than 1-1/2 years

By Rajasik Mukherjee and Echha Jain

Aug 26 (Reuters) -Most emerging Asian assets rallied on Monday, with the Indonesian rupiah and Malaysian ringgit leading the charge, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell all but confirmed that the U.S. central bank would opt for a rate cut next month.

The Indonesian rupiah IDR= strengthened as much as 1.3% against the greenback to hit its highest since early September 2023, while stocks in Jakarta .JKSE added as much as 0.9% to hit a record high.

The Malaysian ringgit MYR=, the region's best performer yet this year, jumped as much as 0.8% to its highest mid-February 2023 level while the benchmark .KLSE advanced 0.1%.

Last week, Powell hinted that the world's most influential central bank would pivot towards a rate cut in September, sending the dollar USD= lower.

"Powell’s 'time has come' keynote speech last Friday at Jackson Hole gave markets greater conviction to put on risks while selling the USD," said Christopher Wong, currency strategist at OCBC.

In Asia, however, domestic concerns and external factors may prompt some central banks in emerging markets (excluding China) to delay monetary easing, Barclays analysts wrote in a note.

"Country-specific factors, be it financial stability risks (South Korea) or inflation (India) or the currency (Indonesia), provide more reasons to push back on policy easing," it said.

The Indonesian and Thai central banks held interest rates steady last week while the Philippine central bank cut its key interest rate this month for the first time in nearly four years.

Next week, Malaysia's central bank is set to announce its overnight policy rate, having held rates steady since May 2023, after delivering a cumulative 125 basis points in hikes over the previous year.

"Bank Negara Malaysia likely to keep rates on hold can also be giving the ringgit support at a time when we talk about easing elsewhere about the Fed and globally," Maybank analysts said in a note.

Elsewhere in the region, South Korea's currency KRW=KFTC inched 0.1% higher while the stocks benchmark .KS11 shed 0.3%, hit by losses in chipmaking giant Samsung Electronics 005930.KS.

Taiwan's dollar TWD=TP strengthened 0.5% while its stocks .TWII gained 0.6%. The Thai baht THB=TH slipped 0.3% while equities in Bangkok .SETI inched up 0.1%.

Markets in the Philippines were closed for a holiday.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Thai employment falls 0.4% y/y in Q2 with farm jobs down

** World Bank forecasts Vietnam 2024 GDP growth at 6.1%, warns on bad loans

** China central bank rolls over maturing loans, injects cash

Asian currencies and stocks at 0450 GMT
COUNTRY	FX RIC	FX DAILY %	FX YTD %	INDEX	STOCKS DAILY %	STOCKS YTD %
Japan	JPY=	+0.25	-2.05	.N225	-0.98	13.53
China	CNY=CFXS	-0.03	-0.36	.SSEC	-0.07	-4.12
India	INR=IN	+0.06	-0.75	.NSEI	0.62	14.94
Indonesia	IDR=	+0.45	-0.13	.JKSE	0.55	4.31
Malaysia	MYR=	+0.64	+5.66	.KLSE	0.14	12.61
Philippines	PHP=	-	-1.79	.PSI	-	7.94
S.Korea	KRW=KFTC	+0.14	-2.87	.KS11	-0.32	1.42
Singapore	SGD=	-0.16	+1.30	.STI	-0.07	4.48
Taiwan	TWD=TP	+0.51	-3.39	.TWII	0.57	24.28
Thailand	THB=TH	-0.29	+0.46	.SETI	0.12	-4.19