Most Asian currencies moved in a flat-to-low range on Friday, while the dollar held on to recent gains as comments from Federal Reserve officials saw traders reassess expectations of no more interest rate hikes.<\/p>\n
Concerns over an economic slowdown in China also dented sentiment towards Asia, following a string of weak data\u00a0 prints for October. While the data pushed up hopes for more stimulus measures from Beijing, it pointed to sustained weakness in the\u00a0yuan<\/a><\/span>, which fell 0.1% and was headed for a muted weekly finish.<\/p>\n Losses in the\u00a0Japanese yen<\/a><\/span>– which weakened past the 151 level to the dollar, put traders on edge over any intervention in currency markets by Japanese authorities. A dovish Bank of Japan was the biggest weight on the yen, as the central bank signaled few plans to wind down its ultra-dovish policy.<\/p>\n Broader Asian currencies also moved little on Friday, with\u00a0Australia\u2019s dollar<\/a><\/span>\u00a0losing 0.1%. The\u00a0Reserve Bank of Australia<\/a><\/span>\u00a0flagged more upside potential for inflation in a quarterly monetary policy review, reiterating its comments made after an interest rate hike earlier this week.<\/p>\n But the Aussie was set to lose over 2% this week, after the RBA struck a somewhat dovish tone.<\/p>\n The\u00a0South Korean won<\/a><\/span>\u00a0rose 0.2%, while the Indian rupee hovered near record lows, although steeper losses in the rupee were somewhat eased by steep declines in oil prices.<\/p>\n In Southeast Asia, the\u00a0Singapore dollar<\/a><\/span>\u00a0traded sideways, while the\u00a0Malaysian ringgit<\/a><\/span>\u00a0sank over 0.6%.<\/p>\n The\u00a0dollar index<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0dollar index futures<\/a><\/span>\u00a0moved little in Asian trade on Friday, but were set to add about 0.8% this week after a string of hawkish comments from Fed officials.<\/p>\nDollar strong, set for weekly gain after Powell speech<\/h3>\n