US Federal Reserve likely to lift interest rates to 22-year high

The South Korean won and the Philippines peso led declines in Asian currencies on Wednesday (26 July) against a dollar that has been bolstered by bets that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by 25 basis points later in the global day.

Where markets go from there could depend on what Fed Chair Jerome Powell says about the future path of rate hikes at a news conference after the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting.

The dollar index <=USD>, which measures the strength of the greenback against six major rivals rose about 0.05% to 101.34, at 0340 GMT. And the dollar made more ground against several Asians.

The won <KRW=KFTC> and the peso <PHP=> depreciated 0.3% each.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Singapore dollar <SGD=>, Malaysian ringgit <MYR=> and the Thai baht <THB=TH> traded between flat and down 0.1%.

The yuan <CNY=CFXS> also lost 0.3%, falling back after rallying earlier in the week as China's leaders raised expectations that a stimulus package will be delivered soon for an economy whose post-pandemic recovery is fizzling out, and whose property sector remains hobbled by a debt crisis.

"There are some very strong messages of intent to wheel out various measures to support a revival in growth in the second half of the year", Ray Attril, Head of FX Strategy, Markets at National Australia Bank said, "But, we have to start to see the specifics of that actually coming to the forefront."

Elsewhere in Asia, the Singapore dollar <SGD=>, Malaysian ringgit <MYR=> and the Thai baht <THB=TH> traded between flat and down 0.1%.

Most Asian share markets, however, were trading positively. Shares in Jakarta <.JKSE>, Kuala Lumpur <.KLSE> and Taipei <.TWII> rose between 0.2% and 0.5%.