Forgot your password?
Asia's Emerging Markets And Currencies Hurt By Fed Minutes
BBC NEWS, BUSINESS
August 22, 2013: Shares and currencies in emerging Asian economies were hit by fears that US may scale back its bond-buying program. Stocks in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines fell, with the Philippine Stock Exchange down by more than 6%. India's rupee hit a new all-time low, while the Indonesia rupiah fell to its lowest level since 2009.
The program has been used by the US Fed to boost liquidity in the market, a part of which has flowed into Asia, lifting assets price in recent years. On Wednesday, the minutes of the July meeting of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, showed that officials were "broadly comfortable" with plans to scale back the $85bn (£54bn) a month bond-buying program. While the minutes did not reveal any clues about when the measure may be tapered, analysts said that they did reinforce the view that the tapering will happen.
"Most analysts still expect tapering to start in September, or at the bare minimum a September announcement and implementation through October and November,'" said Stan Shamu, a market strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index fell 2.3%, Thailand's SET was down 1.9% and Malaysia's Bursa declined 1.8%.
