*
Muted gains in Asian FX
*
China, Hong Kong and Taiwan markets on holiday
*
U.S. dollar at two-month low
By Archishma Iyer April 5 (Reuters) - Most Asian currencies eked out small gains on Wednesday, led by the Malaysian ringgit and South Korean won, as weak U.S economic data suggested the Federal Reserve's streak of rate hikes may be nearing its end.
Trading was somewhat muted across the region as markets were shut in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for a public holiday.
The Malaysian ringgit and the South Korean won led the modest gains by advancing slightly more than 0.2%.
Other currencies such as the Singapore dollar , Thai baht and the Indian rupee traded between flat and up 0.3%
Overnight, data showed job openings in the world's largest economy had dropped to their lowest level in February, signifying a cooler labour market and possibly providing enough reason for the Fed to pause its rate tightening cycle as recession worries heighten. That sent the safe-haven dollar to a two-month low, pulled down by an overnight fall in the benchmark U.S. treasury yields. The 10-year yield was last down to 3.3517%.
"The weakness that we saw in the jobs data in the U.S. yesterday, coupled with the manufacturing data earlier this week has continued to push rates lower and as such, also undermined the U.S. dollar which has helped Asia generally," Mitul Kotecha, HEad of EM Strategy at TD Securities said.
The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against six major currencies, was at 101.558 at 0355 GMT.
Separately, the Philippines peso lost around 0.1%, after the country's annual inflation eased for the second straight month in March, supporting the case for pause in rate hikes from the central bank. "Following the BSP’s 25bp policy rate hike in March, we expect another 25bp hike in May. This will be the last hike in our view, before the bank pauses and switches to cuts in Q4 of 2023," analysts from Barclays said in a research note.
The Indonesian rupiah lost 0.2%.
In the stock market, equities in Singapore , Philippines and South Korea led gains for the day rising between 0.4% and 0.6%
Other markets like Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok were in the red, dropping around 0.2% and 0.6%.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields fall to 6.720%
** Malaysia secures $555 mln potential exports during PM's
China visit
** Emerging market currencies to gain as U.S. Fed nears
endgame Asia stock indexes and currencies
at 0355 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS
DAILY % YTD % DAILY YTD %
%
Japan +0.01 -0.43 <.N225 -1.41 6.87
>
China <CNY=CFXS - - <.SSEC - -
> >
India +0.29 +0.76 <.NSEI 0.14 -3.77
>
Indonesi -0.17 +4.32 <.JKSE 0.21 -0.04
a >
Malaysia +0.23 +0.14 <.KLSE -0.16 -4.56
>
Philippi -0.12 +2.30 0.52 -0.93
nes
S.Korea <KRW=KFTC +0.24 -3.66 <.KS11 0.36 11.31
> >
Singapor +0.00 +1.06 0.49 2.34
e
Taiwan - - <.TWII - -
>
Thailand +0.06 +1.69 <.SETI -0.61 -5.06
>
(Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru
Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
