Asia Aflame: Rupiah and Ringgit Fall, Four Currencies Survive
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia — Asian currencies moved in varied directions against the US dollar in early trading this week, Monday (7/9/2026).
According to Refinitiv data as of 09.15 WIB, of the ten Asian currencies, four managed to strengthen against the US dollar, whilst the other six weakened.
The Taiwan dollar posted the sharpest gain in Asia this morning, rising 0.09% to TWD 31.592/US$.
The Japanese yen and the South Korean won both strengthened 0.04%, to JPY 156.15/US$ and KRW 1,343.67/US$ respectively.
The Vietnamese dong also moved positively, edging up 0.01% to VND 26,052/US$.
On the other side, the Philippine peso came under the greatest pressure in this morning’s trading, weakening 0.25% to PHP 62.751/US$.
The Thai baht followed with a 0.15% decline to THB 32.93/US, followedbytherupiah, whichweakened0.11.
The Malaysian ringgit also corrected 0.10% to MYR 4.045/US.TheSingaporedollarfell0.06, whilst the Chinese yuan weakened slightly by 0.02% to CNY 6.712/US$.
The movement of Asian currencies this morning occurred amid dynamics in the US dollar. The US dollar index (DXY) was meanwhile seen weakening 0.02% to a level of 99.153.
The US dollar remained under pressure early in the week, even as markets raised their expectations of a rate hike by the US central bank (the Federal Reserve, or the Fed). The greenback struggled to sustain its gains after strong US employment data released last Friday.
Based on market expectations via CME FedWatch, market participants now price in a roughly 57% chance that the Fed will raise interest rates this month. That expectation rose after the release of stronger-than-forecast US nonfarm payrolls data.
The US economy added 162,000 jobs in August, far above expectations of 56,000, whilst the unemployment rate held at 4.1%.
Nevertheless, the US dollar still found it difficult to strengthen further. Concerns over the ever-growing US debt, policy uncertainty, and shifting sentiment towards the Japanese yen also held back the greenback’s advance.
Markets are also watching developments in US inflation data due to be released this Friday. That data will be one of the key determinants before the Fed holds its policy meeting this month.
“A hot CPI print would almost certainly lock in a September rate hike and underpin a stronger US dollar. Conversely, a cooler number would reinforce the case for holding rates steady and leave the dollar vulnerable to a more dovish repricing of Fed expectations,” said Elias Haddad, global head of markets strategy at BBH, quoted by Reuters.
Even so, a Fed rate hike would not necessarily send the US dollar surging sharply again, as other major central banks are also expected to tighten their monetary policy.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to be almost certain to raise interest rates to 2.75% this Thursday. Meanwhile, markets are also pricing in a 75% chance that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will raise rates by 25 basis points at its meeting on 18 September.
Expectations of a BOJ rate hike have also supported the Japanese yen. The Japanese currency strengthened early this week, extending last week’s sharp rise after jumping more than 2% against the US dollar.