BENGALURU: Most emerging Asian currencies retreated on Tuesday, with the Indonesian rupiah and the Malaysian ringgit leading declines, pressured by a resurgent US dollar as investors assessed the possible outcome of the US election.
The ringgit fell as much as 0.6% to 4.325 per dollar, its lowest level since Sept. 13, while the rupiah slipped as much as 0.5%.
Indonesia’s new president Prabowo Subianto officially swore in his cabinet on Monday, which included the reappointment of the country’s highly-regarded Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
“There is no better Finance Minister to convince investors that fiscal discipline would be maintained within a new deficit ceiling, with the additional spending room allocated towards productive means,” analysts at Maybank wrote.
The Philippine peso and Taiwanese dollar declined 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.
Meanwhile, the dollar index was last at 103.93 in Asian hours, after hitting its highest level of 104.02 since Aug. 1 on Monday.
Upbeat US economic data and election polls favoring former President Trump have strengthened the dollar, signaling potentially higher interest rates for a longer duration.
As the odds of a Trump victory increase, there are indications that the ‘Trump trade’ has commenced in global financial markets, with negative short-term implications for emerging markets, analysts at BCA Research wrote.
“In short, the US dollar will strengthen, and US bond yields will rise in the lead-up to and after the election if Trump wins. In response, EM countries’ currencies will depreciate, and their fixed-income and equity markets will suffer over the coming months.”
In Asia, interest rates have been the main theme with a slew of central banks announcing their monetary policies in the recent weeks, mostly in line with market expectations.
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