* Philippine peso drops to over 1-1/2-year low
* U.S. Fed meeting minutes awaited
* Indonesia, S.Korea rate decision in focus
By John Biju
May 21 (Reuters) - Most emerging Asian currencies and
equities retreated on Tuesday as recent comments from U.S.
Federal Reserve officials cast a shadow of doubt over the timing
of the potential U.S. interest rate cuts this year.
The Philippine peso declined as much as 0.5% to
58.130 per U.S. dollar, its lowest since November 2022.
MSCI's Asia equity index excluding Japan
fell up to 1%, a day after it rose to its highest in more than
two years after China unveiled substantial measures to support
its property sector last week.
Equities in China declined 0.4% while stocks in
Malaysia retreated 0.3%, a day after it hit over a
three-year high.
Several U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Monday signalled
continued caution on interest rate policy and inflation despite
data last week showing easing consumer prices in April, putting
a dent in risk sentiment towards Asian currencies and equities.
"Fed officials keeping a cautious tone is understandable, as
the inflation outlook is highly uncertain," Frances Cheung, a
rates strategist at OCBC said.
They may need to see a couple of months easing in inflation
to feel confident enough to start cutting rates, Cheung added.
"As long as the risk of the Fed pivoting back to tightening
is seen as low, the external environment shall be favourable for
Asian assets in general," Cheung said.
Markets currently factor in about 41 basis points of Fed
rate reductions this year, with a quarter-point cut fully priced
in for November.
Markets will be focusing on the minutes of the Fed's last
policy meeting this week for clues on the timing of rate cuts.
Investors will keep an eye on the interest rate decision by
the Indonesian central bank due on Wednesday, after Bank
Indonesia delivered a surprise rate hike in its last policy
meeting to stabilise the rupiah.
The Indonesian rupiah crossed the psychologically important
16,000 per U.S. dollar level and was last down 0.3% at 16,022
per U.S. dollar.
A Reuters poll showed that the Bank Indonesia will likely
keep its key interest rate on hold through the next quarter to
support a weak rupiah.
The South Korean won declined 0.7% while stocks
fell 0.6% ahead of a rate decision from the Bank of
Korea later this week where expectations are for the central
bank to keep the policy rate unchanged.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Japan closely monitoring weak yen and bond market, finmin
says
** WEEKAHEAD-Rupee likely to see mild gains, bond yields to
dip after cut in T-bill supply
** China approves 20 fixed-asset investment projects worth
$15.91 bln in April
Asia
stock
indexes
and
currenc
ies at
0351
GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCK STOCK
DAILY YTD % X S S YTD
% DAILY %
%
Japan -0.15 -9.85 <.N2 -0.05 16.70
25>
China EC>
India +0.05 -0.10 <.NS 0.00 3.55
EI>
Indones -0.28 -3.87 <.JK -0.31 -0.39
ia SE>
Malaysi -0.15 -2.13 <.KL -0.27 11.58
a SE>
Philipp -0.48 -4.72 <.PS -0.84 2.74
ines I>
S.Korea 11>
Singapo -0.03 -2.12 <.ST -0.34 1.92
re I>
Taiwan -0.27 -4.91 <.TW -0.29 18.29
II>
Thailan -0.52 -5.83 <.SE -0.48 -3.09
d TI>
(Reporting by John Biju in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian
Schmollinger)