Early Moves Reversed

The greenback initially slipped after US Fed Chair Powell indicated that the FOMC had no intention of tightening policy in the foreseeable future, but has retraced the move to sit at neutral levels, this has seen moves in USD/Asia crosses reverse course.

• CNH: Offshore yuan has completed a round trip, USD/CNH initially dropped to 6.4518 the pair has recovered to 6.4627. The PBOC injected CNY 10bn for the second day which saw repo rates drop.
• SGD: Singapore dollar is broadly flat, USD/SGD hovered around neutral levels amid a lack of local catalysts, an OCBC report doing the rounds posited that SGD is 0.46% above the NEER midpoint which could imply limited downside for USD/SGD.
• TWD: Taiwan dollar stronger on the day, markets look ahead to export orders due after market, they are expected to have risen 46% in January after a 38.3% rise in December.
• KRW: The won is marginally weaker, data earlier showed manufacturers confidence rose, while there was some caution after an uptick in COVID-19 cases. Markets await BoK decision tomorrow.
• INR: After spiking into the close yesterday and wiping out all of the day's gains, INR has spiked lower at the open today and is challenging yesterday's lows. Markets look ahead to an interview with RBI Gov Das today, and GDP data on Friday.
• IDR: Rupiah is broadly flat, the main focus was comments from FinMin Indrawati that the government considers paring back its financing plans amid rising borrowing costs.
• MYR: Ringgitt is stronger, earlier in the session data showed CPI at -0.2% compared to a -0.8% print expected. There was also some speculation that the recent expansion in Malaysia's foreign reserves could be a sign that BNM has been trying to reign in rupiah appreciation.
• PHP: Peso is slightly lower, Philippine Star cited Socioeconomic Planning Sec Chua as noting that the Philippines will have to review its 2021 growth targets, following Pres Duterte's decision not to loosen mobility restrictions for now.
• THB: Baht has weakened slightly, reversing its earlier move. PM Prayuth signalled that his gov't might consider waving the two-week quarantine requirement for foreign visitors who are vaccinated against Covid-19 to revive the embattled tourism industry.