Asian currencies led by Singapore dollar head for biggest weekly decline since January

PUBLISHED ON APR 10, 2015 1:38 PM

SINGAPORE (Bloomberg) - Asian currencies headed for their biggest weekly drop since January, led by Singapore's dollar and Thailand's baht, as the greenback strengthened on signs the U.S. is moving closer to raising borrowing costs.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the currency against 10 peers, rallied this week as minutes of the March policy meeting released on Wednesday showed there was some support for a June rate increase. The Singapore dollar fell the most in a month before a central bank review on Tuesday at which it may ease for the second time this year.

The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index dropped 0.7 per cent from April 3 as of 11:58 a.m. in Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Singapore dollar weakened 0.7 per cent to $1.3593 against its U.S. counterpart, Thailand's baht declined 0.4 per cent to 32.54 and China's yuan fell 0.23 per cent to 6.2093.

"Nobody wanted to be giving up entirely on the dollar," said Leong Sook Mei, the Singapore-based Southeast Asia head of global markets research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. "There's uncertainty over whether there will be a June or September Fed rate rise."