ASIAN emerging market currencies extended steep losses on Thursday, led by the Malaysian ringgit and Thai baht, after escalating tensions between Iran and Israel continued to sustain safe-haven demand for a resurgent dollar.
The ringgit, which has weakened in the last three sessions, and the baht slipped as much as 1.1% to their lowest levels in two weeks. The Indonesian rupiah followed suit to retreat 0.9%, the lowest since Sept. 13. The currency declined for its fourth consecutive session.
Investor flight to the safe-haven dollar was driven by fears of a wider regional conflict following Iran's ballistic missile strike on Israel, and was further aided by stronger-than-expected U.S. private payrolls data on Wednesday.
Expectations are now mounting for a robust U.S. non-farm payrolls report on Friday that could be critical in deciding the Federal Reserve's next steps on rate cuts.
The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, added 0.12% to 101.78 as of 0433 GMT, and earlier pushed to a three-week high of 101.80. The index has gained in every session of the week so far.
The threat of a wider Middle East conflict also pushed oil prices up more than 1% on Thursday, raising concerns about increased costs for net-importing countries like Thailand and India.
"Nonetheless, for THB (Thai baht) specifically I think downward pressures from rising oil prices could be lessened or mitigated by a rising gold price which will lead to some profit-taking activities on gold and support THB," said Poon Panichpibool, a markets strategist at Krung Thai Bank.
Malaysia, however, stands out as the only net oil and gas exporter among the major emerging Asian economies and could benefit from higher oil prices. In Indonesia, September inflation recorded its slowest increase in almost three years, providing more room for its central bank to execute more rate cuts.
Investors are now awaiting inflation figures from the Philippines on Friday, expecting the data to determine the pace of future interest rate cuts by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). As inflation is forecast to continue its downward trend, expectations are growing that the BSP could further lower rates at its two remaining policy meetings this year, in October and December.
Elsewhere in Asia, China's mainland markets remain closed for a week-long holiday, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 3.12%, having soared 6.2% a day earlier.
Other equities inched lower, with those in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore down 0.2% each, while shares in Jakarta fell 0.5%. Stocks in Manila rose 0.6%. Markets in South Korea were closed for a public holiday.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Financial markets in Taiwan remained closed on account of typhoon Krathon
** Japan's services PMI for September declined to 53.1 from 53.7 in August
** Indonesia c.bank enters FX market to balance supply and demand amid rupiah fall - Reuters
