SINGAPORE, Jan 14 (Reuters) - South Korea's won rose in step with the Japanese yen while Malaysia's ringgit fell to multi-year lows on Wednesday as Asian markets were buffeted by diving copper and oil prices, and anxiety about global growth.
Asian equities were down 0.3 percent and the euro stayed near 9-year lows versus the dollar as the plunge in copper prices to 5-1/2-year lows, renewed pressure on crude oil and news that the World Bank had cut its global growth forecast stoked broader risk aversion.
But reaction across wider Asian stock and currency markets was relatively muted, although currencies of oil exporters such as Malaysia's ringgit and the Indonesian rupiah have already suffered losses against the dollar this year.
In contrast, the Korean won was up against the dollar on Wednesday, benefiting from its correlation to the safe-haven yen.
"Most emerging market Asian economies are net commodity importers, with the exception of Malaysia and Indonesia, so fallout from a macro perspective is likely to be a net positive," said Jonathan Cavenagh, Asian currency strategist with Westpac Banking Corporation.
"The critical question is whether this is telling anything about global demand."
The ringgit hit its lowest levels since July 2009 at 3.5950 per dollar, albeit it was just a shade weaker than Tuesday's close in the spot markets and mostly being sold against the dollar in non-deliverable forwards.
The currency was Asia's weakest in 2014 and has also been the most under pressure in 2015, hit by a combination of negative factors such as Malaysia's heavy dependence on foreign portfolio flows, budget pressures from falling oil revenues and concerns over highly indebted local companies.
Nizam Idris, a strategist with Macquarie Capital, said he expected the ringgit to weaken further to 3.65 by the end of the first quarter of 2015. There was selling pressure not just from foreigners pulling cash out of Malaysian debt but also from resident Malaysians moving money offshore, he said.
Latest data from Malaysia's central bank showed outflows of 14.6 billion ringgit ($4.06 billion) from the bond market in November.
"This was the largest monthly outflow in more than three years, and significantly offset year-to-end-October inflows of 17.7 billion ringgit," Nomura analysts said in a note to clients.
original source: http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/01/14/markets-asia-forex-idINL3N0UT27Y20150114