BENGALURU: The Singapore dollar gained ground after an unexpected policy tightening on Monday, while the Indonesian rupiah weakened to briefly touch the key 18,000-per-dollar mark after its central bank chief announced a surprise retirement.
Emerging Asian equities advanced in the afternoon trade as crude prices tumbled after US-Iran hostilities paused over the weekend. The MSCI EM Asia equities gauge rose nearly 1 percent, with stocks in South Korea and Taiwan climbing as much as 2 percent.
Singapore’s central bank unexpectedly raised the prevailing rate of appreciation of its exchange-rate-based policy band slightly, citing inflationary risks from the Middle East conflict.
That sent the Singapore dollar to seven-session highs against the US dollar and the Chinese yuan and a one-month high against the Malaysian ringgit.
Equities in Singapore rose, with the benchmark FTSE Straits Times advancing to a record high with heavyweight banks - DBS Group, OCBC and United Overseas Bank - rising between 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent.
In Shanghai, chipmaker CXMT Corp surged more than six-fold on its debut to become China’s most valuable listed company, surpassing lender ICBC.
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