The Taiwan dollar surges, forcing central bank intervention. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority also intervenes to stop the Hong Kong dollar breaking its peg. Oil prices slide on extra production from OPEC. Indonesia is set to cut interest rates.
In our bonus Deep Dive interview, ANZ’s Chief Economist for Southeast Asia and India, Sanjay Mathur, looks at whether a sharp selloff in India’s stock market is justified.
5 things to know in 5 minutes:
An historic 10% rally in the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar is dominating financial markets news in Asia as exporters bring home their US dollars and Taiwanese pension funds repatriate assets, says ANZ’s Head of Asia Research Khoon Goh.
Khoon says the fall in the US dollar to 29.16 Taiwan dollars was due partly to exporters bringing home funds they had been storing up as US dollar receipts.
Khoon says the jump in the Taiwan dollar was so sharp the central bank had to intervene, and Taiwan’s stock markets fell on fears about what a strong currency might mean for export earnings.
He says the Hong Kong Monetary Authority also had to intervene to sell Hong Kong dollars for US dollars to stop the currency appreciating out of its peg.
Indonesia’s annual GDP growth rate softened in Q1 to 4.87% from 5% in Q4, which ANZ Economist Krystal Tan says is likely to continue into the rest of 2025, adding pressure on the central bank to ease policy soon.
Cheers,
Bernard
PS: Catch you tomorrow with a preview of New Zealand’s jobs figures
