Short positions on Indonesian rupiah jump sharply
Bearish bets on Thai baht at highest since Oct 2022
Investors give up long bets on Indian rupee to turn neutral

April 4 Reuters Investors raised short positions on emerging Asian currencies, with bearish bets on the Indonesian rupiah jumping sharply, as the U.S. dollar remained resilient amid uncertainty over the timeline of the Federal Reserve39;s interest rate cuts, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.

Short positions on the Indonesian rupiah strengthened to their highest since Nov. 2, while those on the Thai baht jumped to their highest since October 2022, according to a fortnightly poll of 11 analysts.

Recent solid U.S. manufacturing activity and labour market data have cast a shadow over the quantum of Fed rate cuts this year, supporting the greenback.

Ahead of the nonfarm payrolls data on Friday, we believe there continues to be USD buying bias in the FX market, said Ryota Abe, an economist with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Under the circumstances, there are few incentives for traders to buy Asian currencies, he added.

Bearish bets on the rupiah firmed on the back of accelerating inflation in Southeast Asia39;s largest economy. The fall in the currency on Monday had prompted the central bank to intervene in the foreign exchange market.

With an imminent move towards the psychological 16,000level, analysts believe that a rate hike from Bank Indonesia may not be out of the cards.

Speculation is that a…