SINGAPORE: The Thai baht rose to its strongest level in more than three weeks on Friday and most emerging Asian currencies looked set to enjoy weekly gains as a jump in the yuan offset concerns about the escalating civil war in Iraq.
The baht advanced on bond inflows and after the leader of the military government said an interim government would be set up by August.
The yuan hit two-month highs against the dollar, and looked set for its best weekly performance since December 2011.
Some signs of stabilisation in China's economy raised hopes that the central bank has put the currency back on a gradual appreciation path after engineering a sharp correction earlier in the year to punish speculators.
Retail sales, a key gauge of consumption in the world's second-largest economy, rose in May from a year earlier, marking the fastest pace since December.
The yuan led weekly regional appreciation with a 0.7 percent gain against the dollar, encouraged by a series of strong mid-point fixings by the central bank.
Many emerging Asian currencies tend to track the renminbi given regional economic dependence on China. Some of them are used for proxy trades to bet on the yuan's direction.
The baht has risen 0.6 percent, while the Indonesian rupiah has appreciated 0.4 percent.
South Korea's won gained 0.3 percent, while the Singapore dollar has enjoyed similar appreciation.
The Taiwan dollar ended the week up 0.1 percent.
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