Emerging Markets: Evergrande clouds Asia FX trading; shares in Singapore, Indonesia rise

Singapore Technologies Engineering

04/10/2021 06:50

Oct 4 (Reuters) - Asia's emerging currencies traded in tight
ranges on Monday as investors worried about China's property
sector and the timing of Federal Reserve tapering, while shares
in Singapore and Indonesia outperformed.
    Shares in Singapore gained more than 1%, buoyed by gains in 
    Singapore Technologies Engineering  STEG.SI  after it agreed
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 1.6% to hit its
highest since March. 
    News that China Evergrande shares  3333.HK  were suspended
on Monday after the embattled developer missed a key interest
payment on an offshore bond for the second time last week kept a
lid on Asian currency gains. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2R0016
    The Indonesian rupiah  IDR=  and Malaysian ringgit  MYR=  
advanced 0.2% each against the dollar, while the region's other
currencies were little changed on the day.
    Chinese markets are closed until Thursday for a holiday,
while South Korean markets were also shut.
    Expectations that elevated inflation could prompt the
Federal Reserve to bring forward its tapering timeline also
weighed on emerging market currencies.
    Data on Friday showed core U.S. PCE price index, the Federal
Reserve's preferred inflation measure for its flexible 2%
target, increased 3.6% in August from a year earlier, its
biggest rise in three decades.
    Rising commodity prices and ongoing supply disruptions have
also fuelled expectations global inflation could stay higher for
longer. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QX0W1  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QW1FW
    "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.
    Investors will next focus on the release of U.S. labour data
this Friday.
    Before then, markets will eye a speech by U.S. Trade
Representative Katherine Tai later on the Biden administration's
long-awaited China trade strategy.  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  
    ** Hopson Development to buy Evergrande unit -Global Times,
citing media reports  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nP8N2MJ029
          Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0345 GMT      
 COUNTRY      FX          FX        FX      INDEX    STOCKS    STOCKS
              RIC         DAILY %   YTD %            DAILY %   YTD %
 Japan         JPY=       -0.02     -7.05    .N225   -0.95     3.84
 China         CNY=CFXS   -         +1.25    .SSEC   -         2.74
 India         INR=IN     +0.00     -1.42    .NSEI   0.00      25.39
 Indonesia     IDR=       +0.21     -1.65    .JKSE   1.36      5.60
 Malaysia      MYR=       +0.19     -3.60    .KLSE   0.01      -6.30
 Philippines   PHP=       -0.04     -5.40    .PSI    0.31      -2.72
 S.Korea       KRW=KFTC   -         -8.62    .KS11   -         5.07
 Singapore     SGD=       -0.05     -2.66    .STI    1.30      8.68
 Taiwan        TWD=TP     +0.08     +2.24    .TWII   -0.85     11.53
 Thailand      THB=TH     -0.15     -11.02   .SETI   0.76      11.60
 
    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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)
 ((NikhilKurian.Nainan@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@NikhilKurianN))