EMERGING MARKETS-Thai baht, Indonesian rupiah at multi-month lows as virus curbs weigh

  • 7/2/2021
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* Indonesia promises to lift social aid, health spending * Philippine shares set to rise 0.7% for week * Graphic: World FX rates tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E * Asian stock markets: tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4 By Soumyajit Saha July 2 (Reuters) - Thailand"s baht languished at its lowest in more than 13 months on Friday, while the Indonesian rupiah weakened to a 2-1/2-month trough, weighed down by rising coronavirus infections and an unrelenting U.S. dollar. Ahead of a closely watched U.S. labour report, the dollar was lodged at a 15-month high against the yen, on bets that a solid rise in jobs would further embolden the Federal Reserve"s recent hawkish lean. The baht weakened as much as 0.4% to its lowest since May 2020, while Thai stocks dropped 0.8% to register their tenth session in negative territory in twelve. Thailand reported its third straight day of record COVID-19 deaths with 61 fatalities, even though it has imposed restrictions around capital Bangkok and other regions to curb the spread of the virus. "The current outbreak combined with the new semi-lockdown measures recently imposed will continue to have a significant negative effect on domestic demand and stall the economic recovery," Bank of America said in a note to clients. A private industry group earlier said the tourism-reliant economy lost 550,000 jobs in the sector over the second quarter. Indonesia"s rupiah was at its weakest since mid-April, after the country announced emergency measures, including movement restrictions, to combat a COVID-19 spike. The country said it would increase spending on social assistance and healthcare in response to the rise in cases and to soften the blow on the economy as curbs kick in. Against the backdrop of weaker emerging Asian currencies, the Philippine peso strengthened from a near one-year low hit in the previous session. Philippine shares extended gains to hit a more than four-month high, a day after the country reported here a fall in unemployment, and the benchmark stock index was set to rise 0.7% for the week. Singapore stocks also advanced, as local media quoted the health minister as saying that the city-state would further ease COVID-19 curbs from July 12, with cases falling. Elsewhere, South Korea"s consumer inflation stayed above 2% in June for the third consecutive month, adding pressure on policymakers to hike interest rates sooner rather than later. HIGHLIGHTS ** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are up 2.2 basis points at 6.636%​​ ** Malaysia"s 10-year benchmark yield is down 2.3 basis points at 3.261%​​ Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0526 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS DAILY YTD % DAILY YTD % % % Japan -0.05 -7.46 0.25 4.86 China -0.11 +0.79 -1.72 1.56 India -0.13 -2.13 -0.09 12.04 Indonesia -0.28 -3.44 0.44 0.90 Malaysia -0.11 -3.39 -0.21 -5.91 Philippines +0.39 -2.38 0.55 -1.93 S.Korea -0.11 -4.25 -0.06 14.15 Singapore -0.07 -2.13 0.12 9.99 Taiwan -0.25 +1.82 0.05 20.30 Thailand -0.31 -6.81 -0.62 9.28 (Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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