* Thai baht hits lowest level since June-end * Chinese yuan hits nine-month low * China cuts short-term rates By Himanshi Akhand Aug 15 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian currencies declined on Tuesday, with the Thai baht weakening the most, as another array of disappointing data from China fanned worries about its faltering economic recovery. The baht depreciated as much as 0.8% against the greenback to its lowest level in 1-1/2 months. China's July industrial output and retail sales growth slowed and undershot forecasts, adding to a raft of recent weak data, suggesting policymakers may need to step up support measures to shore up a the economy. Less than an hour before the data release, China's central bank unexpectedly cut key policy rates for the second time in three months on, underlining the rapid loss of the post-COVID economic rebound. "From a macro perspective, today's policy decisions are somewhat helpful. They will help improve the debt-service ability of cash-strapped local governments and property companies," analysts at ING wrote in a note. "But this isn't a game-changing outcome, and so we doubt that market sentiment will dramatically improve just on this." The yuan declined as much as 0.4% to a nine-month low. The slide in the yuan was later contained, after state banks were seen selling U.S. dollars to buy yuan in the onshore spot foreign exchange market, as Reuters reported. "We saw the 10-year UST yields running high and with the PBOC rate cut this will lead to the rates difference widening between China and the U.S. and put the renminbi under further pressure," said Ken Cheung, chief Asia FX strategist at Mizuho Bank. Cheung added that the slow Chinese economic recovery would continue to be a negative factor for regional currencies. The Indonesian rupiah fell 0.2% and hovered near a five-month low. A Reuters poll found that Indonesia's exports and imports likely continued a decline on a yearly basis in July amid weakening global trade, with its trade surplus seen shrinking. The Philippine peso and the Malaysian ringgit declined 0.3% each. The Philippine central bank will leave its key interest rate unchanged at 6.25% for a third consecutive meeting on Thursday and keep it there for the rest of the year to assess the impact of previous hikes on inflation, a Reuters poll found. Equities in the region were largely mixed. Stocks in Bangkok fell 0.4%, while those in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore gained 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively. Markets in South Korea and India were closed for a holiday. HIGHLIGHTS ** China's statistics bureau said it had suspended publication of youth jobless data, citing the need to improve methodology in the way it measured unemployment among young people ** Argentina's central bank will raise the benchmark interest rate to 118% from 97% previously, an official source said Monday, adding the country's currency will be devalued to 350 pesos per dollar in the aftermath of a shock primary election Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0458 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCKS STOCKS DAILY % YTD % X DAILY YTD % % Japan +0.01 -9.90 <.N2 0.80 23.84 25> ChinaEC> India - -0.28 <.NS - 7.34 EI> Indonesi -0.23 +1.43 <.JK 0.00 0.87 a SE> Malaysia -0.26 -4.91 <.KL 0.29 -2.29 SE> Philippi -0.25 -1.97 <.PS -0.03 -3.64 nes I> S.Korea 11> Singapor -0.07 -1.22 <.ST 0.10 -0.01 e I> Taiwan -0.01 -3.82 <.TW 0.54 16.58 II> Thailand -0.69 -2.00 <.SE -0.38 -8.35 TI> (Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; editing by Miral Fahmy)
Delayed 01:10:57 06/07/2024 BST | 5-day change | 1st Jan Change | ||
7.268 CNY | -0.01% | +0.01% | +2.40% |
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Stocks mentioned in the article
Price
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Change
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5d. change
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Capi.
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2,884 PTS | -0.49% | +2.65% | - | ||
991.2 ARS | +0.35% | +1.61% | - | ||
915 ARS | 0.00% | +0.44% | - | ||
840.1 USD | -0.15% | +2.29% | - | ||
39.56 THB | +0.01% | +0.49% | - | ||
36.44 THB | -0.25% | -0.87% | - | ||
24.66 PTS | +0.13% | +0.58% | - | ||
9.306 CNY | +0.38% | +1.35% | - | ||
7.87 CNY | +0.17% | +1.15% | - | ||
7.284 CNH | -0.11% | -0.17% | - | ||
7.268 CNY | -0.01% | +0.01% | - | ||
5.328 CNY | -0.03% | +0.28% | - | ||
4.905 CNY | -0.01% | +1.26% | - | ||
0.0871 CNY | -0.01% | -0.11% | - | ||
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