* Bear bets on all regional currencies ex-Thai baht
* Short bets on China's yuan highest since June
By Devika Syamnath
Aug 15 (Reuters) - Sentiment towards most Asian currencies
worsened in the past two weeks, a Reuters poll showed, as a
bitter tariff war between the world's two biggest economies sent
investors scurrying to safer assets, raised doubts about growth
and rang recession alarms.
Investors switched to go short on Indonesia's rupiah
IDR=ID , the Indian rupee INR=IN , Malaysia's ringgit MYR=
and the Philippine peso PHP= , according to a poll of 13
respondents.
The poll was closed on Wednesday, before equities worldwide
crumbled after an inverted U.S. bond yield curve ramped up fears
of a global recession.
Increase in bearish positions on China's yuan CNY=CFXS
outpaced that of its peers, with short bets on the currency
climbing to their highest since June.
Beijing's trade stand-off with Washington intensified over
the past fortnight and was set to spill into the currency
markets when the yuan slipped past 7 to the dollar after U.S.
President Trump announced additional tariffs on Chinese goods.
The currency later stabilised and Trump has delayed some
tariffs, offering small pockets of relief that have since been
obliterated thanks to the recession warning and weak growth data
out of China.
The world's no. 2 economy stumbled more sharply than
expected in July and industrial output growth cooled to a more
than 17-year low. Any downturn in China's economic fortunes
ripples through many major Asian economies that count it as a
key trade partner.
Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests have also featured in the
U.S.-China trade rhetoric, after Trump tweeted on Wednesday
about the trade deal and urged Beijing to seek a humane
resolution to the city's months-long political crisis.
Sentiment towards the Indian rupee shifted, with investors
sending it into bear territory. The South Asian nation faces a
deepening economic slowdown, which was most recently highlighted
by easing July wholesale price inflation that indicated
manufacturers are losing their power to raise prices.
Short bets were maintained on the Taiwan dollar TWD=TP .
The country's exports unexpectedly dropped in July as Chinese
demand fell, though shipments to the U.S. rocketed to a record
high. Thailand's baht THB=TH was the sole currency in the region
to see bullish positions, though these bets unwound slightly.
Thailand's central bank last week joined counterparts in
India and New Zealand to stun markets with a series of surprise
interest rate cuts that signalled policymakers' dwindling
ammunition to fight off an economic downturn. 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.
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
on 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
15/8 1.09 1.41 0.99 0.33 0.47 0.17 0.59 0.16 -0.68
01/8 0.37 1.04 0.65 -0.33 0.46 -0.49 -0.07 -0.45 -0.85
18/7 0.20 0.88 0.10 -0.46 0.36 -0.35 0.02 -0.38 -1.00
4/7 0.55 1.02 0.15 0.03 0.54 -0.15 0.67 -0.19 -1.19
20/6 1.21 1.33 0.78 0.41 1.21 0.13 1.10 0.45 -0.53
6/6 1.23 1.53 0.93 0.64 1.30 -0.01 1.18 0.40 -0.11
23/5 1.28 1.69 1.01 0.84 1.14 -0.32 1.17 0.60 0.41
09/5 0.26 1.29 0.29 0.07 0.44 -0.28 0.67 -0.03 0.29
25/4 -0.35 0.65 -0.08 -0.29 0.25 -0.48 0.33 -0.13 0.02
11/4 -0.30 0.51 -0.28 -0.07 0.26 -0.67 -0.10 -0.03 -0.15