Most Asian currencies edged higher on Monday, supported by the dollar's struggles near a 13-month low against a basket of major rivals as continuing disarray at the White House dampened hopes for quick passage of President Donald Trump's stimulus and tax reform agendas. The Trump administration took a fresh hit on Friday after White House spokesman Sean Spicer resigned, highlighting an upheaval within the president's inner circle.
The dollar index against a group of six key currencies was little changed at 93.854, after touching 93.847, its lowest since June 2016. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note yield slumped to three-week low on Friday with a retreat in Wall Street shares spurring safe-haven demand for debt. "There is a general dollar weakness stemming from rise in US risk from politics and Trump," said Sean Yokota, head of Asia strategy at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB). "However, it (the dollar weakness) probably won't last that long since we have the Fed meeting this week and people square their short dollar positions ahead of the event risk." Markets are awaiting the US Federal Reserve's meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday for an update on its plan to start normalising its balance sheet. In Asia, the Taiwan dollar inched up as much as 0.2 percent while the Indian rupee and the Philippine peso slipped.
The Korean won held steady after breaking into 1,120/dollar level last week.
China's yuan firmed against the US dollar on Monday, buoyed by a stronger central bank guidance, snapping three straight days of declines. Prior to market opening, the People's Bank of China set the yuan midpoint CNY=PBOC at 6.7410 per dollar, the highest since October 20 2016, reflecting the dollar's broad weakness. Offshore one-year non-deliverable forwards contracts (NDFs), considered the best available proxy for forward-looking market expectations of the yuan's value, traded at 6.8945, 2.23 percent weaker than the midpoint. The Thai baht rose marginally on Monday, headed for a second straight session of gains. "The dollar-baht pair is tracking lower after the Bank of Thailand played down concerns about a strong THB on export competitiveness," said Philip Sung Seng Wee, senior currency economist at DBS Bank Ltd. Thailand's trade competitiveness has not been much affected by a strong baht and exports can still increase as forecast this year, a central bank official said on Friday, as the baht hit a 26-month high against the U.S dollar. The baht has risen 7 percent against the greenback so far this year, the most in Southeast Asia.
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