Most Asian currencies fall as dollar rebounds; baht, rupiah rise

Reuters: Most Asian currencies slipped against the dollar on Thursday after upbeat US economic data, plus minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting, spurred some recovery for the weak greenback. 

The dollar rose on better-than-expected US December factory data, and was further boosted after minutes of the Fed minutes showed a more hawkish stance about the US economy than some anticipated.

Among Asian currencies, the Philippine peso saw its biggest drop in more than three weeks, falling as much as 0.2% to 49.930 to the dollar.

Philippine consumer prices likely increased in December at the same annual pace as in November, a Reuters poll showed. December inflation data is due on Friday.

The Malaysian ringgit shed as much as 0.3% against the dollar. Malaysia is unlikely to meet earlier targets it set for a balanced budget by 2020, the second finance minister said.

The Thai baht and the Indonesian rupiah were among Thursday’s few gainers among Asian currencies. Both currencies rose about 0.2% against the dollar.

Thailand and Indonesia, which are both major commodity exporters, have seen their economies benefit from a recent uptrend in oil prices.