Emerging Asian currencies advanced against a weaker dollar on Friday as a slump in US consumer confidence revived worries about a slowdown in the world's largest economy. A measure of US consumer confidence posted its sharpest decline in more than three years in December.
That coupled with fears of renewed escalation in the Sino-U.S trade war pushed the dollar index, gauging its value versus six major peers, 0.2 percent lower after it lost 0.5 percent overnight. Reuters reported on Thursday that Washington was considering an executive order in 2019 to declare a national emergency that would bar US companies from using Huawei Technologies and ZTE products, a move that could erase the progress in trade talks between China and the United States.
Christopher Wong, a senior FX strategist at Maybank, said the consumer confidence measure added to a run of poor US data showing slowing momentum in industrial production and wage growth, which coupled with dovish Federal Reserve guidance is likely to underpin "a shift in environment for USD into 2019". The Thai baht led gains among Asian currencies, climbing 0.5 percent to a near three-month high.
The Indian rupee rose 0.4 percent and the Philippine peso 0.3 percent. Both India and Philippines benefited from recent weakness in oil prices. Global benchmark Brent crude rose 1.9 percent on Friday but fell more than 4 percent in the previous session.
The Chinese yuan firmed 0.2 percent to its highest since Dec. 5 during its last trading session this year, after China's central bank declared that it will keep the currency stable. The yuan has clawed back some of its losses in recent months after being under heavy selling pressure for most of 2018 as the world's second largest economy shows signs of slowdown amid a bitter trade war. It is on track to post a decline of 5.1 percent to the greenback in 2018.
The Korean won climbed 0.2 percent. South Korea said 2018 exports exceeded $600 billion, a record high. Most regional units are on track for sizable losses in 2018, hurt by factors including hiked US interest rates and collateral damage from the US-China trade war.
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