Risk Appetite Retreats

The greenback rose marginally from yesterday's lows as equity markets declined. Liquidity was slightly thinner than usual with markets in South Korea and Hong Kong away for public holidays.

• CNH: Offshore yuan is weaker, USD/CNH accelerating its move higher from the lowest since May 11 after the PBOC fixed USD/CNH above sell side estimates, indicating a preference for a weaker yuan.
• SGD: Singapore dollar is slightly weaker. Coronavirus concerns continue to dominate headlines. The health ministry said late yesterday that virus measures could be tightened further if needed, adding that the vaccination efforts were constrained by low supply.
• TWD: Taiwan dollar is stronger, moving back below 28.00. The gains come even as the Taiex lost ground after gaining over 5% yesterday.
• MYR: Ringgit is weaker, FinMin Zafrul insisted that there is no need to return to MCO 1.0, i.e. strict lockdown imposed at the beginning of the local Covid-19 outbreak, as targeted measures employed this year allowed to reduce infections at a lower economic cost. Zafrul estimated that shutting down the economy would lead to the loss of 1mn jobs and affect the incomes of 2.8mn people in the informal sector.
• IDR: Rupiah is lower, later SOE Min Thorir will provide an update on the private-funded Covid-19 vaccination programme, which kicked off yesterday.
• PHP: Peso has gained, Philippine Development Budget Coordination Committee lowered the 2021 growth outlook to +6.0%-7.0% Y/Y from +6.5%-7.5% Tuesday, while also cutting the 2022 GDP forecast to +7.0%-9.0% from +8.0-10.0%. Budget Sec Avisado sought to downplay the significance of the revisions.
• THB: Baht is stronger, BOT released minutes from its latest mon pol meeting. Domestically, "the Thai economy would expand at a much lower rate due to more severe impacts of the third-wave outbreak relative to the second. Domestic spending and the recovery of foreign tourist figures would be restrained by containment measures," the MPC said. As a reminder, the latest meeting saw them cut 2021 GDP outlook.