Rupiah firms as Indonesia considers lifting coal export ban, Singapore shares jump

Jan 10 (Reuters) – The rupiah led modest gains among emerging Asian peers on Monday as Indonesia, the world’s top thermal coal exporter, considered lifting its export ban on the commodity, while financials drove Singapore shares up by 1%.

Currency markets fluctuated in the Asian trading session as liquidity was thinned by a holiday in Japan. Malaysia’s ringgit and the Indian rupee firmed 0.2%, while the Thai baht and Taiwan’s dollar traded flat.

The U.S. dollar attempted to recover from Friday’s losses after a softer-than-expected jobs report worried investors, though a rate hike by the Federal Reserve in March seemed to have been fully priced in by markets.

Focus now shifts to U.S. inflation data due on Wednesday and chair Jerome Powell and governor Lael Brainard speeches this week regarding their nominations at the Fed.

“The dollar index is testing support at its 50-day moving average level and looks vulnerable to the downside, which would bode well for Asian currencies,” said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ.

“For the rupiah, the government is reviewing their coal export ban, and if it is lifted at the end of the month, it will be positive for the currency.”

The rupiah gained 0.2% after having shed 0.7% last week when Indonesia suspended coal exports on Jan. 1 after the state-owned power utility reported dangerously low inventory levels of the fuel. read more

Authorities in the country over the weekend discussed overcoming logistics issues that have slowed efforts to distribute coal, with talks set to resume on Monday.

Robust coal exports amid record high prices last year helped Indonesia shore up a hefty trade surplus.

Singapore shares (.STI) rose as much as 1.1% to hit a seven-week high, rising for the third straight day, underpinned by gains in banking stocks which tracked their U.S. counterparts.

Inflation worries and the Fed’s hawkishness last week prompted buying in shares like banks that usually perform well in a high interest rate environment, while high-growth stocks such as tech were routed.

Similar concerns pushed South Korea’s tech heavy bourse (.KS11) down 1% to its lowest since Dec. 2.

The won , however, steadied by 0.1% with markets looking out to the Bank of Korea’s (BoK) monetary policy meeting on Friday after it hiked rates in November to tamp down inflation that’s running above the central bank’s target.

The BOK is unlikely to raise rates at this week’s meeting, but would instead tighten towards the end of the first quarter, ING analysts wrote in a note.

A 0.3% rise in China stocks (.SSEC) helped Asian equity markets, with the Philippine stock index (.PSI) climbing 1.4% to lead overall gains in the region.

HIGHLIGHTS

** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are up 3.9 basis points at 6.461%​​

** Top gainers on Singapore’s STI (.STI): United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOBH.SI), up 2.9%, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd (OCBC.SI), up 1.7%, and DBS Group (DBSM.SI) up ​1.5%

** In the Philippines, top index gainers are Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc (RRHI.PS) up 5.1% and Security Bank Corp (SECB.PS) up 4.9%

Reporting by Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru

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