Won Leads Gains On Moderation In Geopolitical Angst

Risk sentiment improved on the back of a confirmation that U.S. & Russian chief diplomats will hold diplomatic talks next week.

• CNH: Spot USD/CNH held a particularly tight range, as Chinese headline flow failed to offer much of real note, leaving Eastern European geopolitical developments in focus.
• KRW: The won caught a bid on risk-positive headlines re: upcoming Blinken/Lavrov talks. South Korea eased Covid-19 curbs at the margin, even as daily cases topped 100k for the first time.
• IDR: The rupiah extended losses as Indonesia's BoP current account surplus shrank more than projected. Elsewhere, FinMin Indrawati said that she expects 2022 budget deficit to be equal to 4% of GDP rather than 4.1% forecast before.
• MYR: Spot USD/MYR slipped on broader risk recovery. Malaysia tweaked its policy on releasing Covid-19 data and will now report daily cases the following day, along hospital occupancy & ICU utilisation rates.
• PHP: The Philippine peso inched higher after the BSP flagged works on policy normalisation on Thursday. Bangko Sentral kept its main policy rate unchanged, in line with expectations.
• THB: Spot USD/THB trimmed some of its initial losses. The government said it will take a balanced approach in managing Covid-19 outbreak as calls for further relaxation of curbs grew louder.