Most Asian currencies moved sideways on Wednesday, as the market focused on progress in President Donald Trump's tax cut plan while the South Korean won touched multi-year highs, unfazed by yet another show of aggression from the North. US Senate Republicans pushed the president's tax-cut bill through in an abrupt, partisan committee vote that set up a full vote by the Senate as soon as Thursday.
The greenback gained further traction against the yen after data showed a robust labour market propelled US consumer confidence to a near 17-year high in November. The dollar index, however, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was slightly lower at 0425 GMT. Meanwhile, North Korea conducted its first missile test since September with a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that it said could reach all of the US mainland.
"The impact (of the missile test) on markets has been so far limited as positive politics news buoyed market sentiment," Mizuho Bank said in a note. The dollar also drew heart from Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump's choice to lead the US Federal Reserve, defending plans to potentially lighten regulation of the financial sector during a controversy-free confirmation hearing.
In Asia, the South Korean won gained as much as 0.3 percent to push past a two-and-a-half year high, riding on expectations that the Bank of Korea (BOOK) will raise interest rates at its meeting on Thursday. The Indian rupee, Philippine peso and the Indonesian rupiah traded marginally lower. The won was on track for a second straight session of gains, and has firmed more than 11.6 percent this year.
"The move has ... to do with the grand exit of long USD geopolitical risk hedges ahead of Thursday's BOK interest rate decision," said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia at Oanda, in a note. Eighteen of 21 economists polled by Reuters said they see the BOK raising its policy rate by 25 basis points on Thursday, while the three others saw rates on hold at the current record-low 1.25 percent.
South Korea has been riding an unexpectedly robust export cycle on strong global demand for memory chips, which helped the economy to post its fastest expansion in seven years last quarter. China's yuan inched up against the US dollar, despite a weaker midpoint fixing, after dollar selling by companies emerged to support the Chinese currency. The People's Bank of China set the midpoint rate at 6.6011 per dollar, 0.1 percent weaker than the previous fix of 6.5944. The yuan opened at 6.6049 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.5993 at midday.