Indian Rupee Leads Losses in Asian Currencies on Fed Outlook

India’s rupee led losses in Asian currencies this week as overseas investors cut holdings of the region’s stocks on speculation U.S. policy makers will cut stimulus this year.

“Asian currencies declined this week as markets think the Fed will scale back its stimulus earlier than expected,” said Leong Sook Mei, Southeast Asian head of global markets research in Singapore at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. “Flows are not coming back.”

The Indian rupee lost 1.4 percent this week to 62.6325 per dollar in Mumbai, according to prices from local banks. Indonesia’s rupiah weakened 0.6 percent to 11,401, Thailand’s baht fell 0.5 percent to 31.36 and Malaysia’s ringgit dropped 0.5 percent to 3.1873.

Overseas funds sold $652 million more South Korean, Thai, Indonesian and Philippine stocks than they bought this week, exchange data show.