BENGALURU: Emerging Asian stocks ticked up on Friday, with Taiwan and South Korea notching weekly gains, while regional currencies slipped as the dollar held firm ahead of closely watched US jobs data later in the day.
The MSCI emerging Asia equities index and the broader global EM gauge were little changed, but were on track for a third consecutive weekly rise.
The US nonfarm payrolls report for December is expected to cut through the data fog left by the government shutdown and offer fresh signals on the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook.
“Barring a strong kind of upside surprise in nonfarm payrolls, markets will probably still be biased towards thinking that the Fed will still cut rates over time in 2026,” said Michael Wan, MUFG’s senior currency analyst.
Swaps indicate a more than 86 percent chance of a hold at the Fed’s January meeting, but price in a 38 percent probability of a 25-basis-point rate cut in March.
In East Asia, South Korea’s KOSPI index closed up 0.8 percent, recouping early losses on the back of a 0.1 percent rise in chipmaker Samsung Electronics. It logged its third straight week of gains.
In Taiwan, stocks notched a third straight weekly gain, although the benchmark reversed an early rise to end the day 0.2 percent lower as top contract chipmaker TSMC fell.
“When valuations are built on aggressive future earnings expectations, anything that questions the growth path can lead to big share price swings,” said Ecaterina Bigos, a CIO for Asia ex-Japan core investments at AXA IM, BNP Paribas Asset Management, referring to volatility around AI-linked assets.
In other regions, Indonesian equities were up 0.4 percent, while those in Malaysia advanced 0.6 percent.
Currencies in emerging Asia were on the back foot as the dollar index rose for a fourth consecutive day.
Taiwan’s dollar slipped to 31.668 against the dollar, its weakest point since early May last year. The Indonesian rupiah weakened as much as 0.4 percent to its lowest level since late April 2025, crossing 16,800 against the dollar.
South Korea’s won weakened for an eighth consecutive session, slipping 0.5 percent.
The won is the region’s worst performer so far in 2026, even though policymakers pledged this week to steady markets, saying its declines don’t reflect fundamentals.
Elsewhere, Thai equities rose 0.2 percent, while the baht inched higher.
The country’s prime minister said the anti-money laundering office will be put in charge of overseeing gold trade after the central bank blamed gold traders for the baht’s 2025 surge.
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