Investors slashed their bets on the Singapore dollar by the most in six months and became less bullish on the yuan, as volatile commodity markets and Greece's debt problems lifted the USD, a monthly Reuters poll showed on Friday. Currency investors turned bearish on the Indian rupee for the first time since March, while increasing their long positions in the Indonesian rupiah and the Taiwan dollar slightly, according to the poll.
Emerging Asian currencies had been enjoying robust inflows to regional stocks and bonds based on stronger economic performance and tighter monetary policy amid ample global liquidity.
But they suffered a pullback this month as investors booked profits and covered their bets against the US dollar. The poll asked 11 currency strategists to estimate how the market was positioned in eight Asian currencies against the dollar. The survey measures estimates of the net long or short position in a currency on a scale of minus 3 to plus 3. A score of plus 3 indicates the market is significantly long on dollars.