The Philippine peso and the Malaysia ringgit dipped against the dollar on Thursday with overall Asian currencies remaining as investors covered dollar-short positions ahead of US non-farm payroll data. The dollar is expected to extend its recent gains as healthy private employment data on Wednesday boosted expectations of a turnaround in the US labour market and added to evidence that the economy is gathering momentum.
US non-farm payrolls likely increased by 175,000 in December, according to a Reuters poll, instead of the 140,000 expected before an independent report on Wednesday showed a record jump in private jobs last month. The peso fell against the dollar as investors covered dollar-short positions amid the greenback's broad gains.
Currency investors were largely unfazed by Moody's upgrade of the Philippines' rating outlook. Moody's Investor Services upgraded the outlook on the country's foreign and local-currency bond ratings to positive from stable, a day after the government sold $1.25 billion of global peso bonds.
The ringgit fell as declines in the euro and the Australian dollar spurred dollar short covering and interbank and leveraged names joined dollar buying. The baht tracked falls in Asian peers but found a support around 30.30 per dollar, dealers said. "I think dollar/baht will be capped at 30.30 as investors already reduced dollar-short positions already," said a Bangkok-based dealer.