* Bullish bets on Indonesian rupiah highest since Feb. 2019
* Investors turn bullish on Indian rupee
* Long positions in Chinese yuan cut on virus fears
By Niyati Shetty
Jan 23 (Reuters) - Investors took long positions in all
Asian currencies for the first time since June 2017 as an
initial trade truce between the United States and China revived
appetite for riskier assets.
Long bets on the high-yielding Indonesian rupiah IDR=ID
rose to their highest since February 2019, while investors
turned bullish on the Indian rupee INR=IN for the first time
in more than five months.
Last week, the Indonesian central bank said it would allow
the currency to strengthen in line with market movements. The
unit has firmed about 2% so far this month, leading gains among
its emerging Asian peers. Bank Indonesia is due to hold its policy review meeting
later in the day. A Reuters poll showed the central bank will
likely keep rates steady. A majority of the 12 poll participants also raised their
long positions in the Korean won KRW=KFTC , the Taiwan dollar
TWD=TP and the Philippine peso PHP= .
Bullish bets on the Malaysian ringgit MYR= rose to their
highest since February 2019.
The poll was conducted before Malaysia's central bank on
Wednesday surprised markets by cutting interest rates by 25
basis points to 2.75%. Investors, however, scaled back long bets on the Chinese
yuan CNY=CFXS as the spread of a flu-like virus in China
stoked fears of a global pandemic.
The coronavirus outbreak has killed 17 and infected nearly
600 people. A major concern is that the virus could spread
quickly as millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad during
the week-long Lunar New Year holiday.
The Reuters survey is focused on what analysts believe are
the current market positions in nine Asian emerging market
currencies: the Chinese yuan, South Korean won, Singapore
dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Taiwan dollar, Indian rupee,
Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit and the Thai baht THB=TH .
The poll uses estimates of net long or short positions on a
scale of minus 3 to plus 3.
A score of plus 3 indicates the market is significantly long
U.S. dollars. The figures included positions held through
non-deliverable forwards (NDFs).
The survey findings ASIAPOSN are provided below (positions
in U.S. dollar versus each currency):
DDMM CNY KRW {{2034|SGD IDIDR TWD INR MYR PHP THB
23/1 -0.45 -0.22 -0.50 -0.86 -0.85 -0.05 -0.39 -0.43 -1.05
9/1 -0.55 -0.13 -0.56 -0.49 -0.63 0.40 -0.24 -0.23 -1.04
5/12 0.18 0.39 -0.30 -0.35 -0.63 0.44 0.25 -0.62 -1.19
21/11 -0.11 -0.37 -0.71 -0.41 -0.84 0.31 0.11 -0.64 -1.08
07/11 -0.18 -0.38 -0.48 -0.50 -1.03 0.10 0.04 -0.85 -1.08
24/10 0.25 0.07 -0.06 -0.22 -0.56 0.31 0.45 -0.29 -1.13
10/10 0.82 0.88 0.59 0.08 -0.06 0.39 0.55 0.20 -0.80
26/9 0.84 0.91 0.51 0.01 -0.05 0.34 0.56 0.34 -0.77
12/9 0.95 1.13 0.63 -0.12 0.28 0.78 0.37 0.39 -0.52
29/8 1.51 1.68 1.17 0.45 0.78 0.85 0.81 0.60 -0.73