* Malaysian ringgit eyes best week since April 2016 * Singapore's Q2 GDP grew 0.3% q-o-q * Equities in South Korea and Taiwan climbed over 1.1% By Nausheen Thusoo July 14 (Reuters) - Thailand's baht extended losses on Friday, weighed down by lingering political uncertainty, while improved risk appetite following easing U.S. inflation data propelled several Asian currencies to the sharpest weekly gains in years. The baht fell 0.2%, bucking the regional trend, but was up 1.8% in the week. Thai politician Pita Limjaroenrat said on Thursday he would not give up on his prime ministerial bid after losing a parliamentary vote for the premiership, where he was 51 votes shy of the required threshold. "Political uncertainties will continue to drag on over the next few weeks until the voting results are done, in the meantime, the market may continue to move sideways." said Kasem Prunratanamala, head of Thailand research at CGS-CIMB. In the rest of Asia, currencies sharply rallied against a weaker dollar. "Sharp dollar softness following the U.S. CPI data release helped pushed riskier currencies stronger. That alongside the sharp moves in the JPY and CNY also helped move regional currencies in general." said Saktiandi Supaat, head of FX research at Maybank. The Philippines peso rose 0.1%, taking weekly gains to 2.2% and eyeing its best week in over 11 years. The Malaysian ringgit - which is the worst performing Asia currency this year - led gains on Friday. The currency is up 3.3% this week, on track for its biggest weekly jump since April 2016. "There also seems to be some portfolio inflows into Malaysian assets, including equity flows as the dollar move which broke certain support thresholds led to potential triggers," Supaat said. In Singapore, data showed the city-state's economy narrowly escaped a recession in the second quarter as global demand weakened and China's slowdown dragged on trade flows. The local dollar was up 0.3%. The Taiwanese dollar and South Korea's won both gained over 0.7%. In the U.S., data showed that producer prices barely rose in June. That, combined with other data like declining jobless claims and modestly rising CPI, stoked bets that the Fed's rate hike cycle is nearing end, bolstering risk appetite. "U.S. CPI has delivered a boost for EM assets, adding to our view that many EM central banks will use the broadening disinflationary trend to start cutting rates," Barclays wrote in a note. Equities in Asia have notched sharp gains this week. Stocks in Malaysia rose to their highest level since early June while those in Singapore rose over 3.5%. On Friday, shares in South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand all climbed over 1%. HIGHLIGHTS: ** China's central bank will use policy tools, like the reserve requirement ratio and medium-term lending facility, to weather the challenges faced by the world's second-largest economy ** The Philippine central bank is determined to bring inflation back to its 2%-4% target range ** IMF sees 'pockets of resilience', slowing momentum in global economy ** Indonesia 10-yr bond yield drops to 6.179%, lowest since November 2021 Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0410 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCKS STOCKS DAILY % YTD % X DAILY YTD % % Japan +0.40 -4.63 <.N2 0.23 24.52 25> ChinaEC> India +0.03 +0.82 <.NS 0.24 7.48 EI> Indonesi +0.27 +4.29 <.JK 0.51 -0.08 a SE> Malaysia +1.55 -2.59 <.KL 0.82 -5.87 SE> Philippi +0.11 +2.49 <.PS -0.56 -0.38 nes I> S.Korea 11> Singapor +0.25 +1.62 <.ST 0.27 -0.12 e I> Taiwan +0.75 -0.48 <.TW 1.15 22.07 II> Thailand -0.19 +0.03 <.SE 1.11 -9.47 TI> (Reporting by Nausheen Thusoo in Bengaluru; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
MSCI TAIWAN (STRD)
Index
Real-time MSCI 02:02:09 2024-06-05 EDT | 5-day change | 1st Jan Change | ||
752.4 USD | +1.20% | -3.06% | +16.39% |
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Stocks mentioned in the article
Price
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Change
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5d. change
|
Capi.
| ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2,746 PTS | -1.50% | -0.32% | - | ||
752.5 USD | +1.21% | -3.06% | - | ||
215 GBX | -1.92% | -1.87% | 40.92B | ||
39.75 THB | -0.07% | +0.43% | - | ||
36.58 THB | -0.03% | -0.16% | - | ||
24.34 PTS | +0.10% | +0.61% | - | ||
7.245 CNY | +0.09% | +0.06% | - | ||
6.99 MYR | +2.19% | +1.16% | 15.89B | ||
1.277 USD | -0.00% | +0.60% | - | ||
1.088 USD | -0.03% | +0.61% | - | ||
0.7306 USD | 0.00% | +0.34% | - | ||
0.6658 USD | +0.19% | +0.82% | - | ||
0.6178 USD | +0.06% | +1.33% | - | ||
0.012 USD | +0.06% | 0.00% | - | ||
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- Thai political uncertainty keeps baht in limbo; other Asian currencies rally