Asian currencies slumped, led by South Korea’s won and Malaysia’s ringgit, as signs the U.S. economic recovery is losing momentum cooled demand for higher- yielding assets and worsened the outlook for regional exports. The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of shares fell the most since March after data showed consumer spending in the world’s biggest economy fell for the first time in almost two years. Reports today are expected to show U.S. factory orders declined in June and employers added fewer workers in July, according to Bloomberg News surveys of economists. “Concern about the U.S. economic slowdown has been sharply growing, creating risk-off sentiment in the market and hurting the region’s emerging-market currencies,” said Shigehisa Shiroki, chief trader on the Asian and emerging-markets team at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. in Tokyo. “That will also impact exports from the region as the U.S. is one of the major buyers of their products.” The won dropped 0.8 percent to 1,058.70 per dollar as of 11:15 a.m. in Seoul, its biggest loss in three weeks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The ringgit slumped 0.6 percent to 2.9785, the Singapore dollar fell 0.4 percent to S$1.2094 and the Philippine peso slid 0.4 percent to 42.325. U.S. Jitters Reports this week showed the U.S. Institute for Supply Management’s factory index slumped to a two-year low in July and personal spending unexpectedly fell 0.2 percent in June. The Commerce Department may say today orders placed with U.S. factories dropped 0.8 percent in June, while a private report may show companies added 100,000 workers in July, compared with 157,000 the previous month, according to Bloomberg surveys. The won fell the most since May also after U.S. lawmakers agreed on austerity measures to help rein in the budget deficit. Global funds sold $384 million more South Korean stocks than they bought yesterday and have been net sellers for all but two days in the past three weeks. “Market players view the U.S. economic data and budget cuts as negatives for the economic recovery,” said Byeon Ji Young, a currency analyst at Woori Futures Co. in Seoul. The ringgit fell for a second day before data tomorrow that, according to a Bloomberg survey, will show overseas sales increased 5.8 percent in June from a year earlier following a 5.4 percent gain the previous month. The U.S. is the fourth- biggest buyer of Malaysian exports and accounted for about 8 percent of shipments in May, official data show. “We should start to see some downward adjustment to growth prospects given the current global economic weakness,” said Yeah Kim Leng, Kuala Lumpur-based chief economist at RAM Holdings Bhd. “Exporters in emerging markets are still vulnerable and this should slow the currency appreciation path.” Elsewhere, the Thai baht dropped 0.2 percent against the dollar to 29.82 and China’s yuan slid 0.05 percent to 6.4414. Taiwan’s dollar was little changed at NT$28.880, while Indonesia’s rupiah fell 0.1 percent to 8,490. To contact the reporter on this story: Yumi Teso in Bangkok at yteso1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Regan at jregan19@bloomberg.net

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