Emerging Asian currencies bulls stepped back during the last two weeks with bearish sentiment on China’s yuan, a Reuters poll showed.
However, positive views on regional currencies remained as the U.S. Federal Reserves on Wednesday indicated it was not in a hurry to raise interest rates although it kept the door open to a June hike.
The Bank of Japan on Thursday held monetary policy unchanged, spurring investors to dump dollar holdings against the yen and other Asian currencies.
Sentiment on the yuan turned bearish, according to the survey of 19 fund managers, currency traders and analysts conducted from Tuesday through Thursday.
That turnaround came as Chinese companies have rushed to buy dollars for overseas investments, with a slowing economy hurting local investments. [CNY/] The renminbi’s views had been bullish since late March on some signs of stabilization in the world’s second-largest economy.
The Malaysian ringgit’s bullish bets shrank to the lowest since mid-March, the poll found.
On Tuesday, the ringgit fell to its weakest in more than a week as state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) said some of its bonds were in default after missed payments.
Views on the Philippine peso turned bearish with its short positions hitting their largest since mid-February.
