* Chinese yuan falls to more than 4-mth low
* S. Korean won eases to lowest since Jan 2017
* Indian rupee slips, March industrial output falls 0.1% y/y
(Adds text, updates prices)
By Niyati Shetty
May 13 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian currencies weakened on
Monday as risk sentiment dampened over an impasse in trade
negotiations that could end the bitter tariff war between the
United States and China.
The Chinese yuan CNY=CFXS was among the worst performers,
slipping as much as 0.6% to 6.8580 per dollar, its lowest in
more than 4 months.
Talks between the world's top economies came to a deadlock
on Sunday after Washington demanded promises of concrete changes
to Chinese law and Beijing said it would not swallow any "bitter
fruit" that harmed its interests. The long-drawn dispute escalated last week after the United
States increased the tariff rate to 25% from 10% on $200 billion
worth of Chinese imports after U.S. President Donald Trump said
Beijing "broke the deal" by reneging from earlier comments.
"Investors will be on the lookout for any retaliatory moves
from China, amid background expectations for the renminbi
complex to weaken in reaction to weaker growth prospects," said
OCBC Bank in a note to clients.
While optimism over the outlook of the Chinese economy had
improved recently, uncertainties on the trade front could prompt
policymakers to take further measures to shore up policy easing.
Data on China's April industrial output and retail sales are
due later this week.
The South Korean won KRW=KFTC eased as much as 0.7% to its
weakest since January 2017, and the Indonesian rupiah IDR=
weakened 0.5% to a more than 4-month low.
Elsewhere, the Thai baht THB=TH and the Singapore dollar
SGD= also eased against the greenback, while the Taiwan dollar
TWD=TP and the Malaysian ringgit MYR= were marginally lower.
Philippines financial markets were closed on Monday due to
mid-term senatorial elections, but the peso PHP= was quoted at
52.31 in offshore trading, 0.3% lower than Friday's levels.
RUPEE SLIPS ON WEAK DATA
India's rupee INR=IN declined 0.4% to 70.21 a dollar as
government data showed the country's industrial output in March
contracted from a year earlier, indicating sluggish demand.
Figures on Friday showed output fall 0.1% from a year
earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast growth of 1.3%.
Kotak Securities in a research note said that given the
fiscal constraints and slowing consumption, it sees limited
impetus to the economy and expects fiscal 2020 gross domestic
product growth to slow to 6.8% from 6.9% in fiscal 2019.
The following table shows rates for Asian currencies against
the dollar at 0526 GMT.
CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR
Currency Latest bid Previous day Pct Move
Japan yen 109.740 109.94 +0.18
Sing dlr 1.366 1.3626 -0.28
Taiwan dlr 31.000 30.958 -0.14
Korean won 1184.600 1177 -0.64
Baht 31.670 31.55 -0.38
Peso 52.310 52.148 -0.31
Rupiah 14385.000 14320 -0.45
Rupee 70.210 69.91 -0.43
Ringgit 4.163 4.157 -0.14
Yuan 6.8580 6.8200 -0.55
Change so far in 2019
Currency Latest bid End 2018 Pct Move
Japan yen 109.740 109.56 -0.16
Sing dlr 1.366 1.3627 -0.27
Taiwan dlr 31.000 30.733 -0.86
Korean won 1184.600 1115.70 -5.82
Baht 31.670 32.55 +2.78
Peso 52.310 52.47 +0.31
Rupiah 14385.000 14375 -0.07
Rupee 70.210 69.77 -0.63
Ringgit 4.163 4.1300 -0.79
Yuan 6.858 6.8730 +0.22