ASIAN CURRENCIES DECLINE ON EUROPE CRISIS THREAT; YUAN RETREATS
DATE: 16/04/2012
Asian
currencies fell on speculation Europe’s debt crisis will sap demand for riskier
assets, overshadowing China’s decision to widen its currency trading band for
the first time in five years.
Malaysia’s
ringgit fell the most since April 4, snapping a three-day rally, after the cost
of insuring Spain’s bonds against default surged to a record last week. South
Korea’s won retreated from a one-week high after the central bank trimmed its
2012 growth forecast and the People’s Bank of China weakened the yuan’s daily
reference rate.
“A
weakening in Europe’s economy would hurt export sentiment since Asia exports a
lot of goods to Europe,” said Sean Yokota, a currency strategist at UBS AG in
Singapore. “Risk aversion encourages people to buy dollars and Treasuries as a
safe haven, and that hurts Asian currencies.”
The
ringgit weakened 0.4 percent to 3.0650 per dollar as of 10:07 a.m. in Kuala
Lumpur, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The won slid 0.2 percent to
1,137.25, the Philippine peso fell 0.2 percent to 42.717 and Indonesia’s rupiah
declined 0.4 percent to 9,175. The yuan dropped 0.3 percent to 6.3198. POWERED BY: BLOOMBERG NEWS
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