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Thailand baht gains most among Asian FX
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RBI holds interest rates at 6.50%
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Shanghai stocks reverse Tuesday's gains
By Sneha Kumar and Archishma Iyer
Oct 9 (Reuters) - Most emerging Asian currencies gained
ground against a muted dollar on Wednesday as investors stood on
the sidelines to assess the future rate cut path by the Federal
Reserve, while a potential ceasefire in the Middle East aided
risk sentiment.
Thailand's baht appreciated as much as 0.8% to
33.310 per dollar, leading gains among currencies. It is the
second-best performing currency in the region, after the
Malaysian ringgit, with a 2.4% gain year-to-date.
The currency of Southeast Asia's second-largest economy has
been buoyed of late by sustained Fed rate cut bets, stabilising
politics and economic growth.
"For the baht, there could be some USD-selling interest from
market players especially exporters as they have been waiting
for the baht to weaken a bit," said Poon Panichpibool, a markets
strategist at Krung Thai Bank.
At 0420 GMT, the dollar index remained steady at 102.59.
Other currencies such as the Indonesian rupiah and
Taiwan dollar traded about 0.4% and 0.3% higher,
respectively.
The Philippines peso was a notable outlier, falling
about 0.3% to its lowest since mid August.
Investors are now awaiting a crucial inflation print for
September from the world's largest economy as well as minutes
from the Fed's recent meeting later on Wednesday to gain a
better sense of where interest rates could be headed.
In Asia, the Reserve Bank of India kept its key interest
rate steady at 6.50% as expected, while changing its policy
stance to neutral, opening the door to cuts as the economy shows
some signs of cooling.
The Bank of Korea is expected to move with a 25-basis point
cut in its meeting later this week.
"Until the sentiment-driven market aligns with the Fed's
underlying outlook for lower inflation and interest rates,
currencies are likely to lack direction from markets
over-reacting to better- or worse-than-expected data," analysts
from DBS wrote.
A potential ceasefire in the Middle East provided relief to
sentiments which helped Asian stock markets to make some
headway.
Among Asian equities, Taipei outshone others, rising
as much as 1.2% to its highest level in nearly two weeks,
tracking a rally in U.S. tech stocks.
Other shares in Singapore, Bangkok, and Kuala
Lumpur traded between 0.1% and 0.4% higher.
Meanwhile, equities in Shanghai snapped a 10-day
winning streak to trade 5.3% lower, paring all gains from the
previous session.
The index had risen as much as 10.1% on Tuesday on
anticipation of more strong stimulus measures from Beijing which
failed to materialise.
Markets in South Korea were closed due to a public holiday.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Thailand approves $400 mln investment by Continental AG
to expand tyre facility
** India, S. Korea bonds to join FTSE Russell government
indexes in 2025
** Brussels rejected China proposal for 30,000 euro minimum
sales price in EV dispute
Asian currencies and stocks at 0420 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX YTD INDEX STOCKS STOCKS
DAILY % DAILY YTD %
% %
Japan -0.11 -4.92 0.74 17.26
China -0.02 +0.45 -5.30 11.09
India +0.04 -0.86 0.19 15.32
Indonesia +0.39 -1.19 -0.04 3.87
Malaysia +0.07 +7.19 0.07 12.52
Philippines -0.27 -2.79 -0.92 15.78
S.Korea - -4.31 - -2.29
Singapore -0.01 +1.17 0.38 10.77
Taiwan +0.26 -4.36 0.77 27.07
Thailand +0.54 +2.32 0.12 2.73
(Reportingby Sneha Kumar and Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru;
Editing by Kim Coghill)
Line of Credit 
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