Overview
- Oil jumped about 7% to above $120 a barrel, a move that set off fresh slides in the Indian rupee, Indonesian rupiah, and Philippine peso.
- India’s central bank curbed currency speculation by restricting a popular offshore trading tool and opened a dollar-swap window for oil refiners to ease funding strains.
- Bank Indonesia moved to intensify onshore and offshore support for the rupiah by tightening access to dollars, while the Philippine central bank said it could raise rates to steady the peso and cool price pressures.
- Japan’s yen hovered near 160 per dollar as officials signaled they could act to support it, with concern building over a shift toward stagflation in the world’s third‑largest economy.
- China’s official factory gauge registered 50.3 in April, marking a second month of expansion that offers a near‑term cushion even as higher energy costs threaten demand.