Chinese yuan falls after PBoC rate cut, Fed fears hit Asia FX by Investing.com
© Reuters.
By Ambar Warrick
Investing.com– China’s yuan fell further below key levels on Monday after more monetary easing in the country, while broader Asian currencies fell in anticipation of a Federal Reserve meeting later this week.
It fell 0.4% to a more than two-year low of 7.0080 to the dollar, its second day spent breaching the psychologically important 7 level. The fall came despite an extremely hawkish midpoint fix from the central bank.
People̵[ads1]7;s Bank of China on Monday, and also increased cash injections into the economy as it sought to boost growth that was severely dented by COVID-related shutdowns.
The central bank is now struggling to strike a balance between supporting economic growth and stemming further losses in the yuan. A series of strong midpoint fixes from the bank suggest that it is not willing to let the currency fall further.
China’s prospects may improve in the short term, after the mega city of Chengdu. Still, the economy has a long way to go to reach pre-COVID heights.
Broader Asian currencies fell on Monday, while and rose around 0.1% each.
The decline fell 0.4%, while it was the worst in Southeast Asia with a 0.3% decline. Falling 0.2%, although a market holiday in the country kept trading volumes lean.
The Fed is widely expected to do so on Wednesday. Traders are also pricing in the possibility of a 100 bps hike, following warmer-than-expected US inflation data last week.
“High inflation means 100bp is a risk, but inflation expectations and corporate pricing plans look less threatening and the growth outlook more uncertain, so we don’t see it. Still, a more hawkish message around sticky inflation would see the Fed points more closely reflect market pricing at a terminal rate of 4.25-4.5%, ING analysts wrote in a note.
In the Asia-Pacific region, it fell 0.5% to a more than two-year low. said the bank plans to incorporate climate change into how it manages monetary policy.