Equities decline

- Advertisement -

Most emerging Asian equities declined, with Malaysian shares falling the most as domestic coronavirus cases rise, while currencies weakened after upbeat economic data from the United States boosted the dollar.

Shares in Kuala Lumpur declined as much as 0.9 percent and the ringgit weakened about 0.2 percent as Malaysia reported 8,209 new daily coronavirus cases and 103 deaths on Thursday.

South Korea’s won softened by about 0.3 percent and was set for its third straight session of losses, while the Thai baht slipped 0.4 percent as the US dollar hit multi-week highs after strong private payrolls data on Thursday.

- Advertisement -

The US jobs report raised concerns over policy tightening by the Federal Reserve, and all eyes now turn to May non-farm payrolls later on Friday which could reignite taper talk from the central bank.

India’s blue-chip Nifty index inched lower by midday, even as the central bank kept its interest rates steady at record lows as widely expected and announced bond purchases on top of its current quantitative easing program.

“While we do not see any action on the policy rate front in the coming months, we are poised to see a more accountable and action-oriented RBI (Reserve Bank of India) ahead,” said Madhavi Arora, lead economist at Emkay Global Financial Services.

“We reckon even as yields may inch up gradually and orderly, the RBI will continue to strive fixing skewed yield and maintain its preference for curve flattening.”

Yields on India’s 10-year benchmark bonds have dropped nearly 17 basis points so far in the second quarter after rising more than 28 basis points in the first.

For the week, most regional currencies were on track to post modest losses except Malaysia’s ringgit, which was set to end marginally higher. Most regional equities were set for mild weekly gains. — Reuters

Author

- Advertisement -
Previous article
Next article

Share post: