SINGAPORE: The Indonesian rupiah hit a seven-month low on Monday on worries about political uncertainty and in response to the US dollar's broad strength, while the Hong Kong dollar slipped after clashes between democracy supporters and police.
Asian currencies retreated broadly after data on Friday showing an upward revision to US second-quarter economic growth, giving a further boost to the dollar.
The Hong Kong dollar, which is pegged to a narrow band against the US dollar, touched its lowest level since March at 7.7647 per dollar earlier on Monday, following clashes between pro-democracy supporters and police in the worst unrest since China took back control of the former British colony in 1997.
Leading the losses among Asian currencies, however, was the rupiah, which fell roughly 1 percent and slipped to 12,140 per dollar, its lowest level since February.
The rupiah remained on the defensive after Indonesia's parliament on Friday approved a measure ending direct elections for governors and mayors, a move president-elect Joko Widodo criticised as a "big step back" for democracy in the country.
"While the passage of this bill per se does not impact the economy directly, this could be seen as a prelude to the challenges the president-elect would face without a parliamentary majority," analysts at Maybank said in a research note.
THAI BAHT
The Thai baht touched its lowest level since early July at 32.355 versus the dollar.
It showed little initial reaction to data showing that Thai exports fell 7.4 percent in August from a year earlier, a drop that was double the market forecast in a Reuters poll.
The data also showed that Thailand recorded a trade surplus of $1.15 billion, compared to market expectations for a trade deficit of $300 million.
INDONESIAN RUPIAH
Corporate demand for the dollar helped weigh on the rupiah, said an Indonesia-based trader.
Besides falling on the onshore market, the rupiah also retreated versus the dollar on non-deliverable forwards (NDFs). On one-month NDFs, the rupiah slipped to as low as 12,297, its lowest level since late January.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.