Major Forex News
Rupee Plunges With Asian Currencies on Fed Tapering Concerns
The Indian rupee and Indonesia’s rupiah led a weekly loss in Asian currencies on increasing speculation the U.S. will scale back monetary stimulus as the world’s biggest economy improves.
Indonesia’s currency slumped to the weakest level since 2009 and the rupee dropped to a record amid concern about widening current-account deficits. India has seen its foreign-exchange reserves sink 7 percent this year to $277 billion, while Indonesia’s holdings shrank 18 percent to $92.7 billion.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-active currencies excluding the yen, lost 0.3 percent during the week to 115.56 as of 4:21 p.m. in Singapore. The rupee fell 1.3 percent to 61.69 per dollar and reached an unprecedented 62.005 today. The rupiah dropped 1 percent to 10,388 and touched 10,435 earlier, the lowest since June 2009.
The Federal Reserve will reduce its $85 billion of monthly bond purchases in September, according to 65 percent of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The program has boosted the supply of dollars and driven demand for emerging-market assets. Initial jobless claims in the U.S. fell to the least in almost six years, official data showed this week.
The Reserve Bank of India increased efforts this week to stem the rupee’s plunge by cutting the amount local companies can invest overseas without seeking approval to 100 percent of their net worth, from 400
percent. The central bank has also tightened cash supply, restricted currency derivatives and curbed gold imports.
The rupee depreciated 11 percent this year, the worst performance among 11 of Asia’s most-traded currencies. The current-account deficit was an unprecedented 4.8 percent of gross domestic product in the 12 months through March. The government aims to narrow that to 3.7 percent this year, Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told parliament in New Delhi on Aug. 14.
Indonesia’s currency was set for the worst week since the end of July. Foreign reserves dropped to the lowest since 2010.
The central bank reports current-account data for the second quarter today. The shortfall may be about $9 billion, Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Perry Warjiyo said this month. That would be the largest in data going back to 1989. Policy makers held the reference rate at 6.5 percent yesterday, as predicted by 16 of 25 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Malaysia’s ringgit slid 0.6 percent to 3.2730 per dollar this week and reached a three-year low of 3.2838 today after Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday that the nation’s sovereign rating could come under pressure due to the government’s weakening fiscal position.
The country’s current account is forecast to have swung to a deficit of 1 billion ringgit ($305 million) in the second quarter, from a surplus of 8.7 billion ringgit in the prior three months, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey before government data due on Aug. 21.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Philippine peso dropped 0.2 percent to 43.665 per dollar this week and South Korea’s won lost 0.1 percent to 1,113.59. Thailand’s baht fell 0.1 percent to 31.28.China’s yuan rose 0.2 percent to 6.1130 and reached a 19-year high of 6.1090 today. Taiwan’s dollar declined 0.2 percent to NT$30.002
COMMODITIES>>>>
Call of the Day: Sell GOLD Near @ 31000 SL@31160 Target@30500
Market News
Gold posts 9% weekly gain on economic uncertainty
Gold's appeal as an investment hedge increased after US economic reports on Friday showed weaker consumer confidence in August and lower-than-expected residential construction last month. Friday’s data suggested that a recent spike in interest rates, in anticipation of the US Federal Reserve scaling back its massive bond purchases as early as next month, was starting to have an impact on households. Uncertainty is re-entering the economy and making money managers think. For the week, gold was up almost 5 percent.
Gold's rally came as US stock indexes were lower on Friday and on track for their biggest weekly declines in months. Benchmark US 10-year Treasury bond yields surged to a two-year high as investors bet that recent signs of economic growth will spur the Fed to begin paring back its bond purchase program next month. Spot gold was up 0.9 percent at USD 1,377.60 an ounce by 3:01 p.m. EDT (1901 GMT), having set a two-month high of USD 1,379.60.On Thursday, gold rallied more than 2 percent as a drop in the US dollar triggered short-covering and a technical breakout once prices breached key resistance at USD 1,350 an ounce.
