Most emerging Asian currencies down

Most emerging Asian currencies eased on Monday as China reported its weakest quarterly economic growth since the global financial crisis, while reduced fears of a hard-landing in the world's second-largest economy limited regional losses. Malaysia's ringgit led regional depreciation as an opposition lawmaker submitted notice for a motion of no confidence against embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak. The motion is unlikely to succeed.
The Chinese yuan slipped in line with a weaker central bank midpoint, although the economy's tepid but slightly higher-than-expected third quarter growth capped the currency's slide. Regional units started the day weaker against the dollar after stronger-than-expected US data kept alive prospects of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates within this year. The Chinese economy grew 6.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, data showed, beating a market forecast of 6.8 percent.
Some emerging Asian currencies cut losses on the data, while the South Korean won reversed its slide and hit a 3-1/2-month high. "China's slightly better-than-expected GDP data helped to soothe concerns over the extent of the slowdown," said Khoon Goh, senior FX strategist for ANZ in Singapore. "However, I do not expect to see Asian currency gains extend too far as there are still downside growth risks in the region, and the poor export outlook will ultimately weigh on the region's currencies." The won rose as much as 0.8 percent to 1,120.6 per dollar, its strongest since July 3. The South Korean currency opened the local market softer as traders had raised bets on weaker economic growth in China, the largest market for South Korea's exports. The stronger-than-expected China growth number, however, prompted traders to unwind those bearish positions on the won. South Korea's foreign exchange authorities were suspected of intervening to stem the won's strength beyond 1,120, traders said. That came as the won breached a chart resistance of a 200-day moving average at 1,124.3, analysts said. The currency had been weaker than the average since early May. The won briefly broke through another technical resistance at 1,120.9, the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement of its depreciation from April to September, but ended local trade weaker than that level.