SINGAPORE: The South Korean won touched a nine-and-a-half-month low against the dollar on Tuesday, with most Asian currencies retreating as a rise in US bond yields helped bolster the greenback.
The won led losses among Asian currencies with a drop of 0.4 percent on the day. It touched a low of 1,207.4 per dollar, the weakest level since March 11.
The Taiwan dollar slipped to as low as 32.282 per US dollar, its lowest level since July 7. It later pared its losses and was last steady on the day.
Most other Asian currencies sagged on a day when the US dollar was firmer against major peers, supported by a slight rise in the US 10-year Treasury yield in Tuesday's Asian trading.
Emerging Asian currencies have declined broadly since early November as US bond yields jumped on expectations that US President-elect Donald Trump's proposals for infrastructure spending and tax cuts will boost economic growth and inflation.
Worries about Trump's stance on trade have also weighed on the currencies of export-dependent countries in Asia.
Trump has pledged to redraw trade deals to win back American jobs, and has threatened to hit Mexico and China with high tariffs once he takes office on Jan. 20.
Last week, Trump named Peter Navarro, an economist who has urged a hard line on trade with China, to head a newly formed White House National Trade Council.
"It does bring home the point that Trump has got some axe to grind... when it comes to bilateral negotiations with China and these will not be without impact for the rest of Asia given the supply-chain linkages," said Vishnu Varathan, a senior economist for Mizuho Bank in Singapore, referring to Trump tapping Navarro for the trade advisory role.
Lingering concerns about China's economic outlook are also weighing on the South Korean won and the Taiwan dollar, he said.
"It is not going to move in a straight line but the tendency may be more towards weakness than not for these currencies," added Varathan, regarding the outlook for the won and the Taiwan dollar in the first quarter of 2017.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR
The Singapore dollar eased 0.1 percent to 1.4492 per US dollar.
Wariness toward the risk that the central bank could intervene if the city-state's currency slips to levels beyond 1.45 per US dollar helped limit the Singapore dollar's losses.
The Singapore dollar had posted mild gains last Friday after suspected US dollar-selling intervention by the city-state's central bank. The suspected intervention came after the Singapore dollar touched a seven-year low of 1.4517 on Thursday.
There had also been market chatter about suspected intervention last Tuesday, when the Singapore dollar slipped to as low as 1.4507.
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