Asian currencies: Ringgit and Indonesia’s rupiah led gains

BENGALURU: Asian equity markets were subdued on Thursday as a rebound rally fizzled out, with stocks in Taiwan and South Korea falling the most due to a tech selloff, while Malaysia’s ringgit and Indonesia’s rupiah led gains among currencies. Taiwan stocks were last down 1.6% after sliding as much as 2.7% earlier in the session. Heavyweight TSMC dropped as much as 3.6%.

The benchmark index is on course for its fourth straight weekly decline, the first such trend since December 2022.

Shares in South Korea fell 0.9% as chip and battery makers tracked a slump of more than 1% in the tech-heavy Nasdaq index overnight.

Equities in Singapore inched up 0.3%, while those in Indonesia dipped 0.1%.

“It is quite clear that sentiment remains fragile and we caution that there could be some volatility from jobless claims data in the US tonight, especially if it reinforces the narrative of a recession,” said Saktiandi Supaat, chief FX strategist at Maybank.

The steep selloff in risk assets earlier this week was exacerbated by a number of factors including the unwinding of the yen carry trade, lukewarm tech earnings and fears of a US recession after a soft jobs report.

Regional currencies appreciated, boosted by a defensive dollar, which was hovering near the seven-month low it touched on Monday.

Malaysia’s ringgit, the only Asian currency to log a year-to-date gain so far, jumped 0.7%. “There is more positive idiosyncratic optimism towards the MYR amid the government reforms, better than expected growth and more foreign investor interest,” Supaat said.