The Malaysian ringgit and the Indonesian rupiah were among the gainers in some Asian currencies on Tuesday after OPEC+ production cut targets pushed Brent crude prices higher but renewed concerns over global price inflation.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with Russia and other allies, known as OPEC+, on Sunday shook markets by cutting output targets by a further 1.16 million barrels per day.
“The surprise announcement of OPEC output cuts from May could pressure oil prices in the near term, which could imply more sticky inflation,” analysts from OCBC said in a research note.
The Malaysian ringgit and the Indonesian rupiah appreciated 0.2% and 0.4% respectively, tracking higher crude prices.
“The higher oil price puts the ringgit back in the frame as a regional currency to favour. This is probably helping the currency modestly for now,” said Paul Mackel, Global Head of FX Research at HSBC.
The Singapore dollar, Thailand’s baht, Chinese yuan and the Philippines peso fell in the range of 0.1% and 0.3%.
Market players also took into account weak manufacturing data from the US that pointed to the possibility of the world’s largest economy slipping into recession, while trying to gauge the US Federal Reserve’s path on further rate hikes.
The safe-haven US dollar retreated as much as 0.1%, tracking a slip in the benchmark US treasury yield as some bet the poor data meant the Fed could start cutting rates later this year.
The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against six major currencies was at 102.2 by 0340 GMT.
“There is less fear of the Fed after the volatility in March and once again the end of its hiking cycle is coming into the frame,” Mackel said.
The South Korean won staged a turnaround from the previous day’s losses to log in a 0.6% gain, after the Asian trade bellwether reported cooler-than-expected inflation, prompting investor bets that the rate-tightening cycle could be over for the nation’s central bank.
Indonesian rupiah rises on weak dollar; Asia stocks gain
Among Asian shares, the Indonesian, Malaysian indexes and the Philippines indexes traded between flat and 0.5% down.
Other equities in Singapore and South Korea rose 0.9% and 0.4% respectively.
Highlights:
** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields fall to 6.768%
** China’s reopening brightens developing Asia’s 2023 growth outlook
** Malaysia PM says Petronas project in South China Sea in Malaysian territory
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