*
Chinese yuan hits lowest level since Dec 2022
*
Malaysian ringgit set for biggest weekly drop since March
2020
*
Malaysia Jan CPI rose 3.7%
By Tejaswi Marthi Feb 24 (Reuters) - China's yuan fell to seven-week lows against the dollar on Friday because of mounting concerns over Sino-U.S. tensions. Other Asian currencies also weakened against the dollar after the Federal Reserve reiterated a commitment to send interest rates higher for longer. The yuan shed 0.3% in response to two U.S. officials saying the United States was set to expand the number of its troops helping train Taiwanese forces. For the week, the Malaysian ringgit was down 2.3% and set for its biggest weekly drop since the beginning of the pandemic, while the Singapore dollar had lost 0.4% and was heading for its fourth straight weekly loss. The Thai baht was also down 0.4% for the week. Economic data overnight showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits had unexpectedly fallen last week, emphasising the tightness of the labour market. While resilient global growth should support some emerging market assets, returns had been dented by higher expectations for the peak in U.S. interest rates and their volatility, Barclays analysts wrote. "A further uptick in geopolitical tensions and some political uncertainties may also curtail investors' risk appetite in the near term," they wrote. Malaysia's consumer price index (CPI) in January was up 3.7% on a year earlier, government data showed. The rise was in line with the forecast made by 19 economists in a Reuters poll and compared with the 3.8% annual rise seen in December. Kazuo Ueda, who will take over as the governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) in April, said the central bank must maintain ultra-low interest rates to support Japan's fragile economy. He warned of the danger of responding to cost-driven inflation with monetary tightening. HIGHLIGHTS:
** Japan's five-year government bond yield fell to 0.235%
** POLL-Nearly half of Japan firms want BOJ to revise
negative rate policy
** Indonesia export rules may aid rupiah, but market wary of
FX conversion
Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0545
GMT
COUNTRY FX FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS
RIC YTD % YTD
DAILY DAILY %
% %
Japan +0.07 -2.59 <.N225 1.18 5.09
>
China <CNY=CFXS -0.25 -0.38 <.SSEC -0.58 5.80
> >
India -0.01 -0.03 <.NSEI -0.01 -3.29
>
Indonesia -0.20 +2.30 <.JKSE 0.39 0.23
>
Malaysia -0.03 -0.73 <.KLSE -0.63 -3.15
>
Philippines +0.26 +1.44 -0.20 1.82
S.Korea <KRW=KFTC -0.40 -2.90 <.KS11 -0.52 8.49
> >
Singapore -0.04 -0.25 0.57 0.99
Taiwan -0.25 +0.75 <.TWII -0.14 10.30
>
Thailand -0.32 -0.63 <.SETI -0.78 -1.74
>
(Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru)
