BENGALURU: Emerging Asian stocks declined and currencies were flat on Thursday as the biggest wave of attacks on shipping in the ongoing six-month-old war in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices above USD100 a barrel.
The MSCI EM Asia equities index slipped as much as 1.3 percent, while another gauge tracking ASEAN stocks fell to a one-week low.
Brent crude surpassed the USD100 mark on Wednesday for the first time since late July, threatening to stoke inflation and widen trade deficits in oil import-dependent emerging economies in Asia, pushing equities lower and bond yields higher.
Stocks in Seoul and Taipei closed 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent lower. Mainline stock indexes of other net energy importers such as Thailand and the Philippines also declined 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, while those in Jakarta and Singapore fell at least 0.4 percent.
Malaysia’s benchmark gauge fell 0.7 percent to a one-week low, while the ringgit appreciated nearly 0.2 percent to 4.06 per dollar after weakening steadily for nearly two weeks.
The Singapore dollar, the Thai baht and the Philippine peso were largely unchanged, while the Indonesian rupiah weakened 0.2 percent to 17,535 against the dollar.
The South Korean won, strengthened against the greenback to 1,340.10, not far from its October 2024 peak of around 1,349.
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