BENGALURU (Aug 22): The Philippine peso was the lone gainer among emerging Asian currencies on Thursday, while stocks in Manila climbed as foreign inflows surged on expectations of further monetary policy easing amid sustained growth prospects.
The peso rose 0.4% against a steady dollar, hitting its highest since early April, while local equities advanced 0.9% led by a 3.7% jump in retail bank BDO Unibank.
“The Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) cut last week has been seen as supportive for growth while foreign inflows into Philippine equities continue to keep the peso supported,” said Christopher Wong, currency strategist at OCBC.
Data from OCBC showed that foreign investors were net buyers of US$71 million (RM310.8 million) worth of Philippine stocks so far this week, compared to a net inflow of US$63.6 million since the start of the month.
Wong expects the Philippine central bank to cut rates once more this year in the fourth quarter.
The BSP cut interest rates for the first time last week in almost four years and signalled more to come to preserve the ongoing momentum of economic growth in the country.
Other regional currencies were subdued as investors awaited comments from Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell to gauge the US rate outlook, while the rupiah was hit by rising political uncertainty.
Indonesia’s parliament postponed ratifying changes to an elections law on Thursday amid protests in multiple cities, following an outcry over legislation seen to strengthen the political influence of outgoing President Joko Widodo.
Stocks in Jakarta slumped 0.6% while the rupiah fell 0.8% against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, minutes from the Fed’s July meeting signalled that policymakers in the US were ready to start cutting interest rates as soon as September.
“Acute dovish shifts in Fed expectations, book-ended by a sharp and anticipatory drop in US Treasury yields and the US dollar, suggests scope for EM Asia central banks to start cutting,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research, Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho Securities.
Earlier in the day, South Korea’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged but hinted at an imminent policy easing.
The Bank of Thailand and Bank Indonesia held their key benchmark interest rates unchanged earlier in the week.
Among other equities, stocks in Taiwan fell 0.4% while equities in Singapore were mostly flat. The baht was trading 0.2% lower whereas the Singapore dollar fell 0.1%.
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