Ringgit, rupiah lead losses in Asia FX; stocks mixed
The ringgit and rupiah shed 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively. The South Korean won was flat, as was the Hong Kong dollar. But the Taiwan dollar bucked the regional trend by adding 0.4 per cent, tracking the softer U.S. dollar.
The dollar wallowed near levels last seen in February 2022, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said overnight the central bank would wait for clarity on tariffs' impact before easing.
The U.S. Senate's passing of President Donald Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, which will add US$3.3 trillion to the national debt, has stoked fiscal worries.
"I think market players are largely in wait-and-see mode until the release of the U.S. non-farm payrolls data this Thursday," said Poon Panichpibool, a market strategist at Krung Thai Bank.
The U.S. labour market remained resilient with a rise in job openings for May, data showed, but Thursday's payrolls report will be monitored for prospects of Fed interest rate cuts.
Asian equities also wavered on Wednesday, putting in a mixed performance. Thailand's market was down 0.4 per cent a day after the constitutional court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra pending a case seeking her removal on allegations of dishonesty and ethics breaches.
A sharp retreat in mega-cap tech shares on Wall Street overnight spilled over to peers in South Korea and Taiwan, both tech-heavy markets. South Korean stocks were down 0.8 per cent, with chipmaker SK Hynix losing 2.4 per cent.
Taiwan, which has some of the world's largest chip manufacturers, was down 0.3 per cent. Shares of semiconductor giant TSMC retreated 0.9 per cent.
But Singapore stocks were up 0.5 per cent, hitting a record high of 4,009.60 points, while equities in Malaysia rose 0.5 per cent to log the highest level since May 21.
Shares in the Philippines and Indonesia were down 0.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent each. Investors remained cautious ahead of the July 9 deadline for countries to strike trade deals with the U.S. as U.S. President Donald Trump said he was not considering an extension.
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