Most Asian currencies moved little on Thursday as markets weighed weak economic data from China against growing bets that the Federal Reserve will pause its rate hike cycle.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The dollar steadied in Asian trade after steep losses this week, as weaker-than-expected\u00a0GDP<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0employment<\/a>\u00a0data spurred bets that the Fed has limited headroom to keep raising interest rates.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n But optimism over such a scenario was largely dulled by signs of continued weakness in China, as data released on Thursday pointed to a sustained decline in manufacturing activity. Concerns over a property market meltdown also grew as\u00a0Country Garden\u00a0Holdings (HK:2007<\/a>), China\u2019s biggest property developer, logged a steep interim loss and warned of a potential default.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The\u00a0yuan<\/a>\u00a0fell 0.1% on Thursday, with further losses in the currency limited by a substantially stronger-than-expected daily midpoint fix from the People\u2019s Bank of China (PBOC).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Strong fixing and currency market intervention has helped the yuan weather growing headwinds from an economic slowdown, although the currency was still trading close to 10-month lows.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Data on Thursday showed that China\u2019s\u00a0manufacturing sector<\/a>\u00a0contracted for a fifth straight month in August, albeit at a smaller-than-expected pace, while\u00a0non-manufacturing<\/a>\u00a0activity missed expectations.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The readings presented little improvement in Asia\u2019s largest economy, as it grapples with slowing demand and a potential real estate crisis.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cA further slowdown in the service sector recovery coupled with a slight moderation in manufacturing contraction does not amount to any meaningful improvement to the overall economic backdrop,\u201d analysts at ING wrote in a note.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Markets are now awaiting more monetary stimulus measures from the PBOC, with media reports suggesting that the bank planned to cut mortgage and yuan deposit rates in the near future. Any more rate cuts bode poorly for the yuan.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Concerns over China weighed on most other Asian currencies. The\u00a0Taiwan dollar<\/a>\u00a0sank 0.2%, while the\u00a0Singapore dollar<\/a>\u00a0lost 0.1%. The South Korean won was flat even as data showed\u00a0industrial production<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0retail sales<\/a>\u00a0fell more than expected in July.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The\u00a0Australian dollar<\/a>\u00a0was among the few outliers, rising 0.2% as data showed that\u00a0private investment<\/a>\u00a0in the country grew much more than expected in the second quarter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The\u00a0Japanese yen<\/a>\u00a0was also buoyed by stronger-than-expected\u00a0retail sales<\/a>\u00a0data for July, although\u00a0industrial production<\/a>\u00a0shrank more than expected.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The\u00a0Indian rupee<\/a>\u00a0rose 0.2% ahead of key\u00a0June-quarter GDP data<\/a>\u00a0due later in the day, which is expected to show that the Indian economy grew a whopping 7.7% in the past quarter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The\u00a0dollar index<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0dollar index futures<\/a>\u00a0both moved little in Asian trade, after tumbling 0.9% so far this week.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Weaker-than-expected economic readings pushed up hopes that the Fed will have little headroom to keep raising interest rates.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Focus is now squarely on\u00a0personal consumption expenditures<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0nonfarm payrolls<\/a>\u00a0data, due in the coming days, for more cues on the U.S. economy and monetary policy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Source: https:\/\/www.investing.com\/news\/forex-news\/asia-fx-treads-water-between-mixed-china-pmis-and-fed-pause-bets-3164866<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most Asian currencies moved little on Thursday as markets weighed weak economic data from China against growing bets that the Federal Reserve will pause its rate hike cycle. The dollar steadied in Asian trade after steep losses this week, as weaker-than-expected\u00a0GDP\u00a0and\u00a0employment\u00a0data spurred bets that the Fed has limited headroom to keep raising interest rates. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpautop"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.10.10","language":"nl","enabled_languages":["en","nl","es","sv","fr"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"nl":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"sv":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"fr":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"yoast_head":"\r\nChinese yuan flat after mixed PMIs, rate cuts in focus<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Dollar steadies after Fed pause bets spur steep losses, more data awaited<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n