Rupee not alone; most EM currencies see similar hammering

Like the Indian rupee, most emerging markets currencies have been whacked out of shape. The rupee today breached 65/USD on an intraday basis twice. The currency, at record lows, is one of the worst performing along with the Brazilian Real. The currency is down around 15-16 percent all the way since May 22.

Also read: Forget $, Re 1 = 1.5 cents. We need a New Rupee for India
Last night, the Brazilian Real, depreciated 2.5 percent in one trading session post the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes. The Real was trading at a four-year low despite the Brazilian Central Bank having hiked rates around 1.25 percent all the way since April. The Real is one of the worst performing emerging market (EM) currencies. It is down around 17 percent all the way from May 22 when the FOMC taper talk did begin.
The Turkish Lira too has depreciated quite significantly. It was at around 1.97 against the USD yesterday which was a record low. Turkey too suffers from a huge CAD problem. Like Brazil, Turkey’s Central Bank hiked base rates by around 50 bps just the previous day, but that wasn’t enough to combat the fall.
The Malaysian Ringgit is currently trading at a three-year low. Its gross domestic product (GDP) data that came too disappointed the street.
The Thai Baht and the Indonesian Rupiah too were trading weak. The Rupiah was trading at around 10,800- very close to the levels of around 11,000 which a lot of currency analysts are watching out for as a key psychological level. Hence, today too it seems like the pressure hasn’t been any less for EM currencies.