Asian currencies: Taiwan dollar heads for worst week in a decade

BENGALURU: Taiwan’s dollar led Asian currency declines on Friday, logging a seventh straight session of losses and putting it on track for its biggest weekly drop since September 2015, as foreigners sold local stocks and the island’s residents bought overseas bonds.

The Taiwan dollar fell 0.6% to 30.682 per US dollar, its weakest level in more than three months. It has weakened more than 2% in the past seven sessions. Stocks in Taipei fell 0.7% on the day and were poised to lose more than 2% this week.

The Indonesian rupiah fell 0.4%, wilting for a fourth straight day, and was on track for its worst week since early-April. The Indian rupee gave up 0.2%.

Asian equities largely traded higher, with those in Kuala Lumpur rising 0.3% to a six-month high, while shares in Singapore added 0.5%. Stocks in Seoul advanced 0.9% and those in Bangkok added 0.9%.

A gauge of emerging Asian equities, however, lost 0.8% this week, snapping two straight weeks of gains.

Persistent uncertainties over US President Donald Trump’s policies towards foreign chipmakers and a Wall Street tech selloff have rattled investors this week.

Foreign investors sold T$69 billion ($2.26 billion) worth of shares on Taiwan’s stock exchange on August 20 after a tech selloff on Wall Street, the Taiwan Stock Exchange website showed.

“Resident’s outbound investments through bond ETFs, which had slowed down in Q2 after the liberation day tariffs, have recently increased again. These investments are driving USD buying flows, leading to a higher USDTWD exchange rate,” said Chandresh Jain, EM Asia rates and FX strategist, BNP Paribas.