Investing.com— On Thursday, most Asian currencies declined as the dollar held steady thanks to hawkish remarks from a number of Federal Reserve officials. Attention is now shifting to future inflation figures from China and the United States for more clues on the state of the world economy.
Risk-heavy The and each lost approximately 0.2%, making Southeast Asian currencies the day’s largest losers.
Investors held off ahead of the highly anticipated announcement of the contenders for the next Governor of the Bank of Japan, which limited movement versus the dollar.
With the and trading near parity on Thursday, the dollar held steady versus a basket of currencies.
Overnight, New York Fed President John William and Fed Governor Christopher Waller will discuss the outlook for inflation in the coming months given the robust labor market. This came as Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned that more rate hikes were probably necessary, despite the fact that national inflation was slowing down.
The direction of monetary policy in the upcoming months is anticipated to be determined by the U.S. inflation report, which is due next week.
A series of abrupt rate increases hurt regional currencies in 2022, and traders are still concerned of a repeat of this pattern in 2023.
After China earlier this year lifted most anti-COVID regulations, the reading will be extensively scrutinized for any indications of an economic revival in that nation.
Despite market expectations for a pause in its current rate hiking cycle, the Reserve Bank of India was one of the few gainers for the day, extending modest gains from the preceding session.
Investors will also be keeping an eye on the upcoming week to see if pricing pressures have decreased more since January.