Rupee, ringgit lead Asian decline

Asian currencies declined last week, led by India\'s rupee and Malaysia\'s ringgit, on concern Europe\'s sovereign-debt crisis and a faltering US economic recovery will hurt exports and deter investment in emerging markets. Overseas investors pulled $1.85 billion (Dh6.8 billion) from shares in South Korea and Taiwan over the last five days, exchange data show. Greece will default on its debt and Portugal and Ireland are likely to suffer the same fate, Martin Feldstein, former president of the US-based National Bureau of Economic Research, said last Thursday. Data last week showed American consumers are the least confident in more than two years and retail sales in the world\'s biggest economy stagnated in June. \"There\'s negative sentiment from what\'s happening in the Eurozone and the US,\" said Ho Woei Chen, a Singapore-based economist at United Overseas Bank Ltd. \"Concern about government debt in the Eurozone will continue to crop up.\" The rupee fell 0.4 per cent last week to 44.52 per dollar in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The ringgit weakened 0.5 per cent to 3.0063. The Philippine peso slid 0.45 per cent to 42.938, the Taiwan dollar lost 0.4 per cent to 28.897 Taiwan dollars and Indonesia\'s rupiah retreated 0.3 per cent to 8,544. Taiwan\'s dollar retreated for a second week as global funds sold $1.2 billion more of the island\'s shares than they bought. \"Investors are still concerned recoveries in the US and Europe are not going well,\" said Eric Hsing, a fixed-income trader at First Securities Inc in Taipei. \"Foreign funds have sold a lot of stocks recently, dragging down the Taiwan dollar.\" From / Gulf News