Stocks and currencies in emerging Asian markets struggled to find direction on Wednesday ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting outcome, where investors will be looking for any hints of faster policy tightening.
The Fed is expected to update its monetary policy plan later on Wednesday, with market participants awaiting clues on the pace of interest rate hikes and a timeline for policy normalization.
Equities in Manila and Seoul fell 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively, while stocks in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok rose between 0.5% and 0.9% after a volatile overnight session on Wall Street.
Balanced current accounts, largely lower inflationary pressures and the stability provided by the resilient Chinese yuan to regional currencies have ensured that most Asian central banks have not been pressured to pursue interest rate hikes as aggressively as their peers in Europe and Latin America.
However, Fed tightening is putting pressure on some central banks in Asia to follow suit, potentially hurting their equity markets, similar to what happened in 2013 when the US central bank began tapering its post financial crisis stimulus.
Asian FX fall on hawkish Fed; Indonesian rupiah and Thai baht lead losses
"The recent central bank actions in Asia suggest that they may want to prepare for a Fed that is more hawkish than currently expected," said Frances Cheung, rates strategist at OCBC Bank.
"The pre-emptive tightening provides them with some flexibility to quicken their own tightening paths if there is any upside surprises from the Fed."
On Tuesday, Singapore's central bank tightened its monetary policy settings in its first out-of-cycle move in seven years, a day after the city-state reported core inflation at an eight-year high.
The dollar index was flat at 95.948, while currencies in Asia were largely subdued.
Malaysia's ringgit, Indonesia's rupiah and the Singapore dollar all traded flat.
Thailand's baht was an outlier, gaining 0.3%.
In Philippines, Market participants await the country's fourth-quarter gross domestic product data on Thursday, with the economy projected to have expanded at a slower pace of 6.0% from a year earlier, based on the median estimate in a Reuters poll.
Financial markets in India are closed on Wednesday for a holiday.
Highlights
** Singapore shares up 0.9%, on track for their best session since Jan. 4
** Expected interest rate hikes by Fed may delay emerging Asia's economic recovery and keep pressure on policymakers to guard against risk of capital outflows - senior IMF official
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