BENGALURU: Asian markets held steady on Thursday, with South Korean assets stabilizing after a brief martial law scare earlier this week that rattled investor confidence, while Singapore stocks hit a 17-year high tracking Wall Street’s overnight record gains.
The South Korean won was flat, while benchmark Kospi dropped 0.4%, maintaining its position as Asia’s worst-performing stock index this year.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief martial law declaration on Tuesday night sent the won plummeting 2% to a two-year low, marking its sharpest drop since November 2016 and solidifying its position as this year’s worst-performing currency, down 9%.
The won rebounded on Wednesday following the law’s reversal and suspected central bank intervention, alongside the finance ministry’s pledge of “unlimited” liquidity support to markets.
The Malaysian ringgit, however, rallied for a second session straight after rising as much as 0.76% by 0443 GMT, its highest since Nov. 12. The Philippine peso and the Indonesian rupiah rose 0.2%, each.
The ringgit’s gains stem from a weakening US dollar and bond yields, coupled with expectations that Bank Negara Malaysia will maintain steady policy rates in the coming year, Saktiandi Supaat, Chief FX Strategist at Maybank said.
“I expect the outlook for the ringgit towards 2025 to be predicated on the tariffs scenario next year and its impact on CNY and global trade which may weigh on most EM (emerging market) currencies.”
Asian markets pivoted on domestic inflation data this week, with cooling November figures in South Korea and Indonesia spurring rate cut expectations, aligning with anticipated US Federal Reserve policy shifts.
Although, the Philippine central bank signalled cautious easing as November inflation ticked up to 2.5%, due to typhoon-induced food price hikes.
Taiwan’s November inflation is set for release later in the day, where analysts at ING are looking for inflation to stay more or less stable at around 1.7% year on year.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was marginally down by 0.1% at 106.25, as a softer read on US services data boosted investor confidence in the Fed lowering interest rates.
Asian equities were largely steady, with shares in Singapore rising 1.1%, touching their highest levels since early November 2007 for a second time this week, with technology shares taking cues from a stellar performance by their Wall Street peers.
Taiwan shares extended gains to a fourth session, last trading 0.6% higher.
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