EMERGING MARKETS-Asian FX firm as dollar slips; Indian shares rebound on ICICI Bank result

  • 4/26/2021
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* Graphic: World FX rates tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E * Asian stock markets: tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4 * Asian currencies strengthen on weaker U.S dollar * Indian shares climb after ICICI Bank posts robust results * Investors eye Fed meeting later this week By Harish Sridharan April 26 (Reuters) - Asian currencies held firm on Monday, as bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve will retain an accommodative policy stance at its meeting later this week weighed on the dollar, while Indian shares were boosted by robust results from a major lender. The greenback slipped to a two-month low amid speculation that U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will shun talk of tapering bond purchases at a policy meeting on Wednesday. "The Fed has been very clear that they are going to be patient and will want to keep policy accommodative for a long time. If that message comes through again... that should continue to pressure the dollar lower," said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ Banking Group (Singapore). "With strong growth in the United States, some of that will definitely spill over... especially through increased export demand. That should be positive for export-oriented currencies like South Korean won, Taiwan dollar and Singapore dollar," he added. South Korean won and Taiwan dollar were among the top performing currencies in the region, strengthening 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively. Indian shares rose 1.1%, boosted by a 6.2% jump in shares of private-sector lender ICICI Bank, which reported a more than three-fold surge in March-quarter profit. The results helped offset an otherwise weak sentiment in the region, as the country set a global record for a rise in daily COVID-19 cases for a fifth-straight day, leading to several states imposing strict curbs. "It remains to be seen if this second wave of COVID-19 cases subsides without a national level lockdown," analysts at Bank of America wrote, forecasting that a month of nationwide lockdown was likely to cost the nation 100-200 basis points of GDP. Singapore"s shares gained 0.3%, after the city- state"s manufacturing output for March increased 7.6% from last year. "The manufacturing outperformance is likely to sustain in the double-digit growth handle, partly due to base effects but also due to the green shoots recovery in the global economy, particularly for the major economies of the U.S. and China," analysts at OCBC wrote in a note. Shares in South Korea marked its best session in nearly two weeks and Taiwan closed at yet another record high. Thai stocks lagged peers, after the country"s central bank warned it was likely to slash its economic growth outlook for this year and next due to a rapidly spreading third wave of COVID-19 infections. Highlights ** Top gainer on the Taiwan SE Weighted Index was Space Shuttle Hi-Tech Co Ltd, up 10.0% ** Top gainer on the Korea SE Kospi Index was PharmGen Science Inc, up 29.9% ** The biggest gainers in the NSE index were ICICI Bank Ltd and Axis Bank, up 4.86% and 3.3%, respectively Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0741 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCKS STOCK DAILY YTD % X DAILY S YTD % % % Japan +0.14 -4.19 <.N2 0.36 6.13 25> China EC> India +0.34 -2.26 <.NS 1.14 3.74 EI> Indones +0.22 -3.09 <.JK -0.74 -0.11 ia SE> Malaysi +0.12 -2.00 <.KL 0.77 -0.40 a SE> Philipp -0.33 -0.79 <.PS 0.18 -10.5 ines I> 1 S.Korea 11> Singapo +0.08 -0.34 <.ST 0.32 12.68 re I> Taiwan +0.58 +1.91 <.TW 1.57 19.28 II> Thailan -0.10 -4.74 <.SE -0.06 7.13 d TI> (Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

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