Most Asian currencies move higher

Most emerging Asian currencies edged higher on Friday, while the peso climbed to its strongest level in over a month, as the dollar sagged in the wake of disappointing US economic data and fresh political turmoil in Washington. The dollar struggled after a survey showed a sharp loss of growth momentum in the US services sector, and as probes into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 president election gathered pace.
"Ongoing political concerns, a lack of fiscal impulse and fading hopes of Fed rate hike (owing to moderating economic data) are exerting downside pressure on the US dollar." said Christopher Wong, senior FX strategist at Maybank. "The focus today will be on the US payroll data and further disappointment in those numbers could pose risk to our 92-support for the dollar index" he added.
The dollar index which measures the greenback's value against a basket of six major currencies fell as much as 0.2 percent to 92.696 on Friday. The non-farm payrolls report later in the global day could influence the Federal Reserve's timing on interest rate hikes and the outlook for the dollar. In Asia, the South Korean won strengthened, snapping three sessions of losses. But the currency was poised for its second week of losses.
The Taiwan dollar rose for a third straight session and was heading for its second weekly gain. The yuan eased, but was on track for its fourth week of gains. Peso gained as much as 0.2 percent and was on track for second straight week of gains. As expected, the country's annual inflation picked up slightly from the previous month as transportation and utility costs rose.
"It (the inflation numbers) is part-and-parcel of the continued strength of the peso that we have seen in the last couple of weeks." said Manny Cruz an analyst with Manila-based Asiasec Equities Inc. Rupee firmed against dollar for a fourth day and was on track for its fourth week of gains. Anindya Dasgupta, head of local market trading at Barclays Bank in Mumbai, said bullishness could be attributed to strong foreign portfolio investment inflows.