An SGX sign in the Singapore Stock Exchange. — Reuters
Singapore climbed close to 17-year peaks on Monday and was among stock markets to gain in emerging Asia, helped by the biggest banks in Southeast Asia hitting their all-time highs.
Currencies in the region slipped against the dollar as the greenback remained above the one-year low it hit last week after the U.S. Federal Reserve's super-sized rate cut.
Malaysia's ringgit and South Korea's won were the top losers.
Singapore's Straits Times index advanced 0.7% to its highest level since early November 2007, with top banks DBS Group, OCBC, and UOB all trading at their record-high levels.
Singapore's key consumer price gauge rose 2.7% in August from a year earlier on Monday, exceeding economists' expectations. The data comes before the next review of monetary policy settings in October by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Singapore dollar, which hit a near 10-year high last week, shed as much as 0.2% to 1.292 per U.S. dollar. In the Philippines, stocks jumped around 2% to top their March 2022 level, helped by a broad-based rally across sectors.
The peso slipped 0.2%, coming off a near six-month high scaled in the previous session.
On Friday, the Philippine central bank said it will reduce the amount of reserves that commercial banks are required to hold by 250 basis points from Oct. 25, while mentioning that further cuts were on the table based on the inflation outlook.
Thai stocks and the baht advanced marginally as government-backed mutual fund Vayupak set the stage for more foreign inflows into the country's stock market.
"The offering of government-backed Vayupak Fund's type A units ... has driven foreign inflows into Thailand equities over the past month," analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note.
"We think THB (Thailand's baht) is also likely to outperform in the near term, driven by equity inflows (prompted by a government-backed equity fund which launches on October 1) and elevated gold prices," they said.
The country's central bank said on Friday there was "no need" to reduce interest rates immediately after the Federal Reserve cut rates.
Malaysia's ringgit trended lower on Monday but was set for a blockbuster quarter, appreciating around 12% so far in the September quarter, making it the currency's best three months since January 1973, if the trend continues.
"Malaysia remains in pole position to attract investors and that is generating significant support for the MYR," analysts at Maybank wrote.
Elsewhere, the Indonesian rupiah and the South Korean won fell around 0.3%, while the Philippine peso weakened around 0.2%. Stocks in Indonesia fell around 0.5%, while those in Malaysia were down 0.4%.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Malaysia's inflation rises slower than forecast in August
** China's central bank injects cash, lowers 14-day reverse repo rate
** South Korea, U.S., Japan foreign ministers to meet on Monday, says Seoul - Reuters
