Emerging Markets: Asia FX muted on Evergrande worries; Singapore, Indonesia stocks rise

Singapore Technologies Engineering

04/10/2021 08:53

Oct 4 (Reuters) - Most emerging currencies in Asia lacked
direction on Monday as worries grew over property developer
China Evergrande's debt crisis, while shares in Singapore and
Indonesia outperformed regional peers.
    News that China Evergrande shares  3333.HK  were suspended
on Monday after the company missed a key interest payment on an
offshore bond for the second time last week kept a lid on Asian
currency gains.
    Chinese media reported that Evergrande, which has $305
billion in liabilities, will sell a half-stake in its property
management unit to Hopson Development for more than $5 billion.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2R0016
    The Indonesian rupiah  IDR=  and Malaysian ringgit  MYR= 
advanced the most in the region, gaining around 0.3% each, while
other currencies were little changed on the day.
    Singapore stocks  .STI  rose more than 1%, buoyed by
Singapore Technologies Engineering  STEG.SI  after it agreed
over the weekend to buy Roper Technologies Inc's  ROP.N 
TransCore business for $2.68 billion.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QZ01D
    Indonesia's stock market  .JKSE  climbed 1.7% to hit its
highest since March.
    Chinese markets are closed until Thursday for a holiday,
while South Korean markets were also shut.
    Also weighing on markets are expectations that elevated
inflation could prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to bring forward
its tapering timeline, which would sap appetite for riskier
emerging market assets.
    U.S. labour data this Friday will have investors glued for
signs of a strong improvement in the job market, enough to keep
the Fed on course to begin tapering before the year's end or
sooner. 
    Data on Friday showed that the personal consumption
expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed's preferred inflation measure
for its flexible 2% target, increased 3.6% in August from a year
earlier, matching July's gain.
    "The market has priced in the start of taper, but probably
not the full impact of it depending on the pace," analysts at
OCBC said.
    Rising commodity prices and supply disruptions have also
fuelled expectations global inflation could stay higher for
longer.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QX0W1  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QW1FW
    "If skyrocketing commodity prices aren't tamed during this
winter season and supply bottlenecks remain unresolved, that
might force policymakers into a more hawkish stance in order to
get ahead of inflation," said Han Tan, chief market analyst at
Exinity.
    Markets also have a speech by U.S. Trade Representative
Katherine Tai later on Monday on the Biden administration's
long-awaited China trade strategy to look forward to.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QX04H
        
    HIGHLIGHTS: 
    ** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields down 2.4 basis points
at 6.335%​​ 
    ** Top gainers in Singapore include Genting Singapore Ltd,
Capitaland Investment Ltd  CAPN.SI  and CapitaLand Integrated
Commercial Trust  CMLT.SI  
 Asia stock indexes and currencies at   0654 GMT      
 COUNTRY      FX          FX       FX      INDEX    STOCKS   STOCKS
              RIC         DAILY %  YTD %            DAILY %  YTD %
 Japan         JPY=       +0.02    -7.02    .N225   -1.13    3.65
 China         CNY=CFXS   -        +1.25    .SSEC   -        2.74
 India         INR=IN     -0.13    -1.55    .NSEI   0.95     26.59
 Indonesia     IDR=       +0.28    -1.58    .JKSE   1.64     5.89
 Malaysia      MYR=       +0.24    -3.55    .KLSE   -0.18    -6.49
 Philippines   PHP=       +0.02    -5.34    .PSI    0.54     -2.50
 S.Korea       KRW=KFTC   -        -8.62    .KS11   -        5.07
 Singapore     SGD=       -0.04    -2.65    .STI    1.16     8.53
 Taiwan        TWD=TP     +0.08    +2.23    .TWII   -0.98    11.37
 Thailand      THB=TH     -0.30    -11.15   .SETI   0.90     11.74
 
    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Graphic: World FX rates     https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
Asian stock markets    https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by Ana
Nicolaci da Costa and Ramakrishnan M.)
 ((NikhilKurian.Nainan@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@NikhilKurianN))