Asian currencies were subdued on Monday in a week packed with central bank meetings in Indonesia and the Philippines and by the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England.
Indonesia’s rupiah, Malaysia’s ringgit, the Chinese yuan and the Taiwan dollar fell 0.1% each.
The Philippine peso, the Singapore dollar and Thailand’s baht were trading flat.
“Sentiments seem to be treading on some ‘calm before the storm’ in the lead-up to a series of key central bank ‘live’ decisions this week,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG.
Consensus expectation is for the Fed to hold rates but stay hawkish at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday, while Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) are expected to keep rates steady at their respective policy meetings on Thursday.
“The recent pickup in inflation (in the Philippines) likely means the central bank will have to maintain its hawkish rhetoric and push back against expectations of policy easing,” analysts at Barclays said in a note.
Meanwhile, there is a lot of uncertainty about the Bank of Japan’s policy decision after recent comments from Governor Kazuo Ueda stoked speculation of an imminent move away from ultra-loose policy.
The yen, which has fallen over 11% so far this year, was up 0.1%.
On Thursday, Bank of England is tipped to hike for the 15th time and take benchmark borrowing costs to 5.5%.
“Risk appetite will be heavily influenced by any shifts in interest rate expectations over the coming week,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.
An extended rally in oil prices to a 10-month high stoked inflationary pressures and sapped appetite for net importer of Asian currencies such as the South Korean won and the Thai baht.
Separately, data showed Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports fell for an 11th straight month in August as the trade-reliant economy continues to grapple with global headwinds on inflation and declining demand.
Stocks across emerging Asia were broadly lower, with equities in Taipei declining 1.2% and leading losses.
Shares in Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand dropped between 0.4% and 0.9%.
Equity market in Japan was closed for a public holiday.
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