Thailand's baht and the Philippine peso eased on Monday, with analysts sceptical about the near-term prospects of both currencies, while other emerging Asian units eked out meagre gains against a broadly flat U.S. dollar.
Investors also digested weaker-than-expected export data from Southeast Asia's second-largest economy and looked ahead to the Bank of Thailand's (BoT) policy meeting on Wednesday.
Selling pressure is likely to remain on the baht due to prolonged impact of recent COVID-19 outbreaks in Thailand which dented consumer confidence, as well as the delayed reopening of major cities for tourists, said Poon Panichpibool, a strategist at Krung Thai Bank.
Yen sinks, Aussie climbs as Evergrande contagion fears recede
The safe-haven yen sank to its lowest in nearly three months on Monday, while the risk-sensitive Australian dollar continued to recover from an almost one-month low, as fears of widespread contagion from China Evergrande Group receded.
The yen also fell as higher U.S. yields attracted Japanese investor money, while rising commodity prices helped the Aussie and Norway’s crown.
U.S. yields climbed to their highest since the start of July in anticipation of tighter U.S. monetary policy, while the dollar hovered in the middle of its range of the past week versus major peers.
The euro traded little changed at $1.1724, largely ignoring developments in German elections on the weekend, with the Social Democrats projected to narrowly defeat the CDU/CSU conservative bloc.
The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it will likely begin to trim its monthly bond purchases as soon as November and flagged interest rate increases may follow sooner than expected, with half of Federal Open Market Committee members projecting a hike next year.
Concerns that China’s second-largest developer Evergrande could default on its $305 billion of debt has overshadowed trade in recent weeks, but some of those contagion fears are receding.
The People’s Bank of China injected a net 100 billion yuan ($15.47 billion) into the financial system on Monday, adding to the net 320 billion yuan last week, the most since January.
Several local governments in China have set up special custodian accounts for Evergrande property projects to protect funds earmarked for housing projects from being diverted, media outlet Caixin reported on the weekend.
The yen weakened as far as 110.81 per dollar, matching a low on July 7, before trading little changed at 110.67.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield touched 1.466% for a second day on Monday, the highest since July 2.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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