Asian currencies slip

Most Asian currencies inched lower on Thursday as a warning from US President Donald Trump about the coronavirus death toll heightened fears of a global recession and soured risk appetite.
Trump warned Americans on Tuesday of a "painful" two weeks ahead in fighting the coronavirus and urged the population to follow social distancing guidelines for the next 30 days.
That prompted a rush to the safety of the dollar, while yields on the benchmark 10-year US Treasuries dropped to its lowest since March 10. "It is hard to see a recovery in growth/risk assets if the US is not able to get the coronavirus outbreak under control," said Fiona Lim, senior FX strategist at Maybank, Global Markets Singapore. "Given the fact that the US is now the new epicentre, we see a possibility that the USD's safe-haven allure may eventually dull." The Malaysian ringgit slipped 0.5% to a more than one-week low against the dollar, despite reports of a slowing rate of new coronavirus infections.
The South Korean won fell 0.5%, while the onshore Chinese yuan lost 0.4% in early trade to its weakest since early October.
The Indonesian rupiah slid 0.6% to 16,540 per dollar.
The central bank said it expected the rupiah to move toward 15,000 per dollar by the end of the year, reiterating that its current level against the dollar was "adequate".
"Given prospects of increased capital outflows and Indonesia's current account deficit, further IDR depreciation cannot be ruled out," said Wei-Liang Chang, macro strategist at DBS Bank.
"While vulnerability remains, we still think BI (Bank Indonesia) has sufficient capacity to lean against steep IDR depreciation."
The Thai baht dropped as much as 0.6% to 33.15 against the dollar, its weakest since November 2018.
Financial markets in Taiwan and India were closed for holidays.
The Singapore dollar and the Philippine peso traded slightly higher amid broader weakness.
Currencies that are backed by substantial FX reserves and semi-pegged, such as the CNY and the SGD, will be the best units in the current volatile environment, said DBS Bank's Chang.
The Philippine peso is an outperformer, which has been remarkably stable, albeit daily swings have been substantial, Robert Carnell, chief economist and head of research at ING Asia in Hong Kong, told the Reuters Global Markets Forum. The peso has been Asia's top performer this year, weakening only 0.5%, compared to steeper falls experienced by peers.