Emerging Asian currencies fell to multi-year lows on Wednesday after China's central bank allowed the yuan to drop for the second straight day to a four-year trough, a move sparking fears of a global currency war. The yuan fell to as low as 6.4508 per dollar, its lowest since July 2011, after the People's Bank of China weakened its daily yuan midpoint by 1.6 percent.
The People's Bank of China, which described the devaluation as a one-off step to make the yuan more responsive to market forces, sought to reassure financial markets it was not embarking on a steady depreciation. But markets stayed jittery, expecting the move could be the start of a further slide and driving the yuan's peers weaker, analysts said.
China took steps to weaken the yuan after disappointing economic data indicated that further stimulus may be needed to revive growth in the world's second-largest economy. China's July factory output rose 6.0 percent from a year earlier, well below market expectations. In the meantime, Ji added, the US dollar "will march on", strengthening further against Asian currencies.
Malaysia's ringgit weakened past a psychologically important 4.0000 per dollar level to hit a fresh 17-year pre-peg low. Indonesia's rupiah also fell to a level not seen since July 1998. The Singapore dollar, the Taiwan dollar and the Philippine peso all touched five-year troughs. The South Korea won slid to nearly a four-year low. China's devaluation bolstered expectations that other Asian countries may let their currencies weaken to support their economies, as long as the pace of depreciation is not too fast.
South Korea's finance minister said China's step to weaken the yuan will help South Korean exports eventually. Vietnam doubled its trading band for interbank dollar/dong transactions on Wednesday, aiming to protect its exports by countering the adverse affects of a strengthening dollar and yuan devaluation. Some foreign exchange authorities in Asia, including South Korea and Indonesia, were spotted intervening to defend their currencies, but it does not indicate they favour stronger currencies, analysts said.
Foreigners' hedging-related dollar demand hurt the rupiah further, traders said. The Indonesian currency pared some losses as the central bank was spotted "heavily" intervening, traders said. Bank Indonesia chief said the rupiah's decline has overshot and it is undervalued, after a senior deputy governor warned of intervention.
Kuala Lumpur stocks lost 1.9 percent amid sliding investor confidence due to falling commodity prices and growing pressure on Prime Minister Najib Razak amid corruption allegations involving indebted state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad. Most government bond prices fell. The five-year government bond yield jumped to 3.969 percent, its highest since November 2008.