 "Rupee leads losses in Asian currencies")
The rupee led losses in Asian currencies this week, as overseas investors cut holdings of the region's stocks on speculation US policy makers will cut stimulus this year.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index fell 0.3 per cent in the five days through yesterday, after a 0.5 per cent drop in the prior period. Third-quarter US expansion topped estimates and growth in service industries accelerated last month, data showed this week.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg October 17-18 predicted the Fed would begin paring stimulus in March.
The rupee lost 1.2 per cent from November 1 to 62.475 per dollar in Mumbai, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. Indonesia's rupiah weakened 0.7 per cent to 11,410, Thailand's baht fell 0.9 per cent to 31.475 and Malaysia's ringgit dropped 0.3 per cent to 3.1794.
Overseas funds sold $1 billion more South Korean, Thai, Indonesian and Philippine stocks than they bought this week, exchange data show.
The US had a 2.8 per cent annualized gain in gross domestic product, compared with a 2.5 per cent increase in the prior three months and a two per cent advance forecast in a Bloomberg survey, Commerce Department figures showed November 7. The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index increased to 55.4 from 54.4 in September. The median estimate of economists was for a drop to 54.
The rupee fell to a five-week low of 62.7513 yesterday. The Reserve Bank of India has cut direct dollar supplies to oil refiners by 30 per cent to 40 per cent, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told CNBC TV-18.
"The dollar demand from local oil companies as the Reserve Bank of India scales back its FX swaps is likely to weaken the case for rupee strength," Morgan Stanley analysts led by New York-based Rashique Rahman wrote in a report November 7.
The rupiah had a second weekly decline after data showed gross domestic product rose 5.6 per cent last quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since 2009. The nation recorded trade deficits in seven of the first nine months of this year.
The baht touched a four-week low of 31.515 per dollar yesterday on concern anti-government protests triggered by a proposed amnesty law for political offenses will deepen a slowdown in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
Political unrest
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called November 7 for an end to street demonstrations in Bangkok after agreeing to scrap the controversial amnesty bill.
"Prolonged political unrest will hurt the economy that's already weak and, with the current mood, foreigners probably don't want to put money in Thailand," said Tohru Nishihama, an economist covering emerging markets at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute Inc in Tokyo. "The political situation will weigh on the baht, which may underperform its regional peers."
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's won dropped 0.4 per cent this week to 1,064.90 per dollar and the Taiwanese dollar slipped 0.1 per cent to NT$29.505. The Chinese yuan advanced 0.15 per cent to 6.0905, while the Philippine peso gained 0.1 per cent to 43.188. Vietnam's dong was steady at 21,100.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index fell 0.3 per cent in the five days through yesterday, after a 0.5 per cent drop in the prior period. Third-quarter US expansion topped estimates and growth in service industries accelerated last month, data showed this week.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg October 17-18 predicted the Fed would begin paring stimulus in March.
The rupee lost 1.2 per cent from November 1 to 62.475 per dollar in Mumbai, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. Indonesia's rupiah weakened 0.7 per cent to 11,410, Thailand's baht fell 0.9 per cent to 31.475 and Malaysia's ringgit dropped 0.3 per cent to 3.1794.
Overseas funds sold $1 billion more South Korean, Thai, Indonesian and Philippine stocks than they bought this week, exchange data show.
The US had a 2.8 per cent annualized gain in gross domestic product, compared with a 2.5 per cent increase in the prior three months and a two per cent advance forecast in a Bloomberg survey, Commerce Department figures showed November 7. The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index increased to 55.4 from 54.4 in September. The median estimate of economists was for a drop to 54.
The rupee fell to a five-week low of 62.7513 yesterday. The Reserve Bank of India has cut direct dollar supplies to oil refiners by 30 per cent to 40 per cent, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told CNBC TV-18.
"The dollar demand from local oil companies as the Reserve Bank of India scales back its FX swaps is likely to weaken the case for rupee strength," Morgan Stanley analysts led by New York-based Rashique Rahman wrote in a report November 7.
The rupiah had a second weekly decline after data showed gross domestic product rose 5.6 per cent last quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since 2009. The nation recorded trade deficits in seven of the first nine months of this year.
The baht touched a four-week low of 31.515 per dollar yesterday on concern anti-government protests triggered by a proposed amnesty law for political offenses will deepen a slowdown in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
Political unrest
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called November 7 for an end to street demonstrations in Bangkok after agreeing to scrap the controversial amnesty bill.
"Prolonged political unrest will hurt the economy that's already weak and, with the current mood, foreigners probably don't want to put money in Thailand," said Tohru Nishihama, an economist covering emerging markets at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute Inc in Tokyo. "The political situation will weigh on the baht, which may underperform its regional peers."
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's won dropped 0.4 per cent this week to 1,064.90 per dollar and the Taiwanese dollar slipped 0.1 per cent to NT$29.505. The Chinese yuan advanced 0.15 per cent to 6.0905, while the Philippine peso gained 0.1 per cent to 43.188. Vietnam's dong was steady at 21,100.