EMERGING MARKETS-Thai baht, Indonesian rupiah stuck at lows as virus bites

  • 7/2/2021
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* Thailand reports third straight day of record virus deaths * Philippine peso strengthens from about 11-month lows * Graphic: World FX rates tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E * Asian stock markets: tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4 By Soumyajit Saha July 2 (Reuters) - Thailand"s baht hit a fresh 13-month low on Friday, while Indonesia"s rupiah was rooted to a more than two-month low, weighed down by a surge in local coronavirus cases and a strengthening U.S. dollar. The dollar rose to an over 15-month high against the yen as market participants bet that an expected robust U.S. jobs report later in the day would push the greenback even higher. The baht weakened as much as 0.3% as Thailand reported a third straight day of record coronavirus deaths despite new curbs in parts of the country. The currency is among the region"s worst-performers so far in 2021 and has hovered at its lowest in over a year since the end of June. "Tighter restrictions in Thailand continue proving to be a headwind, and we"re now seeing foreign investors selling out of Thai assets," said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ Banking Group (Singapore). A private industry group said this week that the tourism-reliant economy lost 550,000 jobs in the sector over the second quarter. Indonesia"s rupiah fell as much as 0.5% to its weakest since April 16, a day after the country announced emergency measures to combat the virus, prompting business groups such as the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or Kadin, to request financial support to prevent layoffs and bankruptcies. But the virus"s impact was already evident as the country"s inflation rate eased to a 10-month low of 1.3% in June, staying below the central bank"s target range of 2% to 4%. "With record COVID-19 cases and restrictions coming into force... economic activity is set to be hit which is a further headwind for IDR. This could see foreign investor outflows in the near-term," ANZ"s Goh said. Other emerging Asian currencies mostly weakened, though the Philippine peso came off a near 11-month low hit in the previous session. Stocks in emerging Asia were modestly higher. A Reuters poll on Thursday showed investors cut long bets across all Asian currencies as the U.S. dollar strengthened on the U.S. Federal Reserve"s recent hawkish shift and as the region faced the spread of the more infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus. HIGHLIGHTS ** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are up 2.2 basis points at 6.636%​​ ** Malaysia"s 10-year benchmark yield is down 1.7 basis points at 3.267% Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0302 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS DAILY YTD % DAILY YTD % % % Japan -0.05 -7.46 0.29 4.91 China -0.08 +0.82 -1.47 1.81 India +0.00 -2.01 0.00 12.15 Indonesia -0.34 -3.51 0.45 0.90 Malaysia -0.13 -3.41 0.05 -5.66 Philippines +0.49 -2.28 0.09 -2.37 S.Korea -0.14 -4.27 0.09 14.33 Singapore -0.06 -2.11 0.34 10.23 Taiwan -0.25 +1.82 0.28 20.58 Thailand -0.31 -6.81 0.05 10.01 (Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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