Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Asian currencies decline, led by the won and ringgit, after Fed’s Yellen late Friday said a rate hike may be appropriate in coming months; China sets yuan reference rate at weakest since Feb. 2011.

• EM Asian currencies likely to remain susceptible to concerns over Fed tightening and weaken against the dollar in coming weeks, Qi Gao, FX strategist at Scotiabank, writes in note today
  • Sees a Fed increase in July more likely; NOTE: currently 53.8% probability of July hike, according to Fed Funds futures
• Dollar Index advances, set for two straight days of gains
• MSCI Asia Pacific index falls 0.3%; Brent crude oil prices rise 0.1%
  • Yen touches lowest since April 28 on talk of sales-tax delay and fiscal stimulus; PM Abe to delay tax hike to 2019, Nikkei reports, citing unidentified sources; plans up to $90.7b stimulus
  • USD/JPY rallies on momentum, leveraged stop-loss buying, according to Asia-based FX traders
  • April retail sales unchanged m/m vs est. -0.6%, +1.5% in March
• Yuan slides 0.25%, most since Feb. 3, as PBOC weakens fixing by 0.45% to 6.5784 per dollar; offshore yuan also lower
  • USD/CNH seeing broad-based buying, FX traders in North Asia say
  • Risk of defaults looms over China’s $3.6t market for wealth management products
  • Authorities to study disclosure, credit rating systems for foreign bond issuers to facilitate their bond sales in China, according to article written by PBOC Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng in Caixin Weekly magazine
  • Goldman Sachs sees end of yuan “sweet spot” spurring fund outflows
• Malaysia ringgit falls, set to snap three days of gain
  • Wahid Omar to leave cabinet on June 4: PM Najib
  • BNM has lodged police report against WSJ for revealing confidential documents, Najib says
• Indonesia rupiah drops, set to snap three-day gains
  • BI to issue rule on money markets soon to become legal umbrella for all money-market instruments, says Nanang Hendarsah, head of financial market development
• Korean won hardest hit Asian currency, falling 1.0% to 1,190.90 Monday following three straight days of gains last week
  • Manufacturers’ business confidence for June rises to 74, highest in a year, from 73 for May
• Thai baht set for two straight days of losses
  • 1Q unemployment rose to 0.97% y/y from 0.94%, NESDB says
• Taiwan dollar drops
  • Taiwan to allow securities firms to provide business in trading TWD spot and derivatives, Commercial Times reports, citing chairman of Taiwan Securities Association