Most Asian currencies rise

Most Asian currencies firmed on Thursday as the US dollar weakened after the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting revealed dovish tones. The minutes showed some of the central bankers' concerns regarding the inflation outlook, with emphasis placed on economic data in determining the timing of future rate rises.
"The narrative in the Asian currencies is almost like a reflationary storyline. That is really spilling over from last week in the sense we have had just continual positive GDP prints across the Asian space and this has just got everybody wondering what is the next central bank narrative going to be," said Stepehen Innes, head of trading for Asia at Oanda in Singapore.
Local currencies have been supported by strong economic data, with the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand having reported third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers which have beaten expectations since November 16. Malaysia grew at the fastest pace in over three years. The Korean won firmed for the third day and was 0.14 percent stronger, the second most in the region, with a week to go for the Bank of Korea's monetary policy meeting with expectations of a rate hike to be announced on November 30.
The Taiwanese dollar, likewise, strengthened for the third consecutive day while the Taiwanese benchmark equity index rose gained 0.38 percent. The index hit its highest in 27 years on Wednesday, boosted by information technology stocks. Indonesia's rupiah and the Indian rupee gained 0.09 percent and 0.14 percent on the day, respectively.
The Singapore dollar was marginally lower ahead of industrial output data for October, while the city-state reported GDP numbers well ahead of expectations and updated its GDP forecast for the rest of the year. The currency had gained for the previous two sessions. GDP in the third quarter grew the fastest in nearly four years, rising to 5.2 percent from 4.6 percent a year previously. However, core inflation in October remained steady at 1.5 percent.
Singapore revised its full-year 2017 growth estimate to 3.0 percent to 3.5 percent due to improved global demand. A Ministry of Trade and Industry official said monetary policy was "appropriate" in 2017. The yuan firmed the most in the region, over 0.3 percent, on Thursday after the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the fixing rate at the srongest in five weeks. The yuan's official midpoint was set at 6.6021, 0.41 percent firmer than the previous fix of 6.6290.
The yuan breached the key mark of 6.6 to the dollar for the first time since November 2 and liquidity tightness in the offshore yuan market eased on Thursday with its borrowing costs falling back to normal level.