EM currency index hits record high
LONDON: Emerging market currencies gained against a softer dollar on Monday, lifting MSCI’s index tracking them to a record high on growing hopes of stable economic growth and looser monetary policy in the United States.
TOKYO: A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rates for various currencies, including the US dollar (top left) in Tokyo. – AFP.
The dollar weakened 0.3 percent against a basket of currencies, lifting MSCI’s international emerging market currency index 0.6 percent to a record high at the start of a week packed with central bank events.
Asian currencies led gains, notably the Korean won, Malaysian ringgit and Thai baht. The baht and Thai stocks were also lifted by better-than-expected gross domestic product data. Emerging market assets looked set to build on gains from the previous week as data pointing to US economic growth soothed worries about slowing global demand. Focus will now be on US Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Friday speech in Jackson Hole, where investors anticipate he will acknowledge the case for easing borrowing costs.
“Unless we hear Powell hint that the Fed are not ready to ease, or that the tone is skewed towards a 50 bps cut, then what we hear should marry almost perfectly to market pricing,” Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone, said. An index of emerging market stocks gained 0.7 percent after rising nearly 3 percent in the previous week. A number of emerging market central banks will also meet this week, with interest rate decisions expected in Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea and Turkey.
Chinese policymakers are also seen keeping key loan prime rates unchanged on Tuesday. South Africa’s rand built on a nine-day winning streak, and was up 0.4 percent ahead of inflation data due on Wednesday. The country’s main stock index continued to cruise at record highs and was up 0.9 percent, led by a nearly 5 percent rise in shares of lender Absa Group after the company reported results.
The Russian ruble steadied against the dollar, edging 0.1 percent higher, but still remains down more than 4 percent since Ukraine launched its ongoing attack in the Kursk region. Currencies in central Europe were mixed against the euro EUR= as it rose against the dollar. The euro rose 0.2 percent versus the Polish zloty and was flat against the Czech crown. Israel’s shekel weakened 1.4 percent against the dollar after four straight sessions of gains, after data on Sunday showed the economy grew 1.2 percent in the second quarter of 2024, less than the 4.4 percent forecast in a Reuters poll. – Reuters.
