While the onshore yuan did not trade on Monday and Tuesday, the offshore yuan fell 0.5% on Monday, and largely stuck to those levels on Tuesday, with the unit last seen at about 6.9571 to the dollar.
"EM (emerging market) Asia currencies could see some softening bias because China reopening momentum would be quite important to anchor the EM Asia currencies," said Ken Cheung, chief Asia FX strategist at Mizuho Bank.
Other Asian currencies such as the Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah fell about 0.2% each. Indonesia reported April inflation of 4.33%, a slowdown from March and slightly below market expectations. The rupiah was largely unchanged.
Among macro catalysts, eyes were on the U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting late on Wednesday, where markets have largely priced in a 25 basis point hike.
The U.S. economic landscape has also been hit by the collapse of First Republic Bank, the largest U.S. bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. Late on Monday, regulators seized the bank's assets and sold them to JPMorgan.
Cheung said the buyout "largely cleared the hurdle" for the Fed to deliver another 25 basis point hike this week.
Also on investors' minds was the U.S. debt ceiling crisis, with the Treasury warning the government may default on payments next month. U.S. President Joe Biden will meet four congressional leaders to discuss the matter next week.
Equity markets in Asia mostly traded higher, with the markets in South Korea , Malaysia and Singapore up between 0.4% and 0.7%.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Thailand exports likely to rise 1% this year, Thai
shippers' council says
** Biden tells Philippines' Marcos that U.S. commitment to
the defence of its ally was "ironclad" amid China pressure 0416 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS
DAILY YTD % DAILY YTD %
% %
Japan -0.03 -4.66 0.13 11.75
India +0.10 +1.20 0.56 0.34
Indonesia -0.24 +5.88 -1.11 -0.17
Malaysia -0.02 -1.32 0.38 -4.96
Philippines +0.22 +0.52 0.32 1.21
S.Korea -0.23 -5.69 0.70 12.64
Singapore +0.01 +0.28 0.37 0.97
Taiwan -0.10 -0.20 0.21 10.42
Thailand -0.20 +1.11 0.09 -8.28
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Graphic: World FX rates Asian stock markets ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Reporting by Harshita Swaminathan; Editing by Jamie Freed)
