THAILAND: Most Asian currencies retreated from recent gains on Tuesday, as global tariff worries underpinned the US dollar, while the won held its own after the Bank of Korea (BOK) delivered a much anticipated rate cut to bolster Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Leading the decline, Thailand’s baht fell 0.4% and was on track for its worst session in over a week. Taiwanese dollar and the Indian rupee followed suit to retreat 0.2% each, while the Indonesian rupiah gave up 0.3%.
The MSCI index of emerging market currencies ended a three-day rally, falling as much as 0.2% for its biggest intra-day percentage loss in a week.
The dollar index recovered from its lowest level in over two months touched at the start of the week, boosted by safe-haven demand following US President Donald Trump’s announcement that tariffs on Mexico and Canada would proceed as planned.
“Announcements about tariffs involving the US, China, or Europe could strengthen the dollar further, but uncertainty makes it hard to predict, as the market is bracing for potential negative news, keeping the dollar at high levels,” said Jessica Amir, market strategist at Moomoo Australia.
In South Korea, the won remained largely stable after the country’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point. The move was widely anticipated to support an economy impacted by political turmoil and the fallout from Trump’s tariff policies.
“There are good reasons to expect the central bank to cut rates again over the coming months to support the struggling economy,” Gareth Leather, a senior economist with Capital Economics, said.
In Thailand, markets experienced volatility one day before the central bank’s policy meeting, where it is expected to keep rates steady in line with its regional counterparts, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Thailand’s economy grew at its fastest pace in over two years last quarter, with inflation under control.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is planning stricter US semiconductor restrictions and urging allies to increase their limitations on China’s chip industry, signalling the president’s intention to extend measures initiated under Joe Biden to curb China’s technological advancement.
A tech-selloff took a toll on regional equity markets, triggered by a significant decline in the Nasdaq and Chinese stocks.
Taiwan stocks and South Korean stocks, heavily reliant on their US counterparts, shed 1% and 0.4%, respectively. Indonesian stocks fell by 1.6% while stocks in Malaysia lost 1%.
Philippine stocks declined by 0.8% and Thai stocks dropped by 1.2%, reaching its lowest point since 2020.