SEOUL/KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 2): Emerging currencies are on track to post a third straight weekly loss, paced in Asia by Malaysia’s ringgit, as speculation U.S. interest rates will rise this year following hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials boosted the dollar at the expense of riskier assets.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index has fallen 0.8 percent since Aug. 26 with odds of a Fed rate hike by the end of this year holding near 60 percent. U.S. August nonfarm payrolls to be released later on Friday will help determine the timing of a move. The Colombian and Chilean pesos  led losses, while the ringgit was dragged lower by a slump in crude prices. South Korea’s won was Asia’s best performer on Friday after the country’s second-quarter gross domestic product was revised up to 3.3 percent from 3.2 percent. Developing-nation stocks headed for a second weekly decline.

“We have markets waiting this week for Friday’s payroll data as they try to get a sense of when the Federal Reserve will raise the interest rate this year,” said Suh Dae Il, a Seoul-based economist at Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. “The timing of the rate hike is the big question in the market.”

The won rose 0.3 percent as of 10:43 a.m. in Hong Kong. The upward revision of economic growth came a day after a report showed exports rose for the first time in 20 months.

Stronger growth

“We had the Korean GDP numbers, which came in stronger than expected, and yesterday we had the export numbers and that was also positive,”  said Irene Cheung, a foreign-exchange strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore. “The numbers helped the Korean won.” she added.

The ringgit slid 0.2 percent, extending its loss since Aug. 26 to 1.7 percent. Brent crude has tumbled more than 8 percent this week. Malaysia is Asia’s only major net oil-exporting nation.

The yield on South Korea’s 3-year note has risen nine basis points to 1.33 percent this week, with that for the 10-year note gaining 11 basis points to 1.54 percent. Malaysia’s 10-year yield has advanced six basis points to 3.605 percent since Aug. 26.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index of stocks rose 0.3 percent Friday, paring its weekly slide to 0.9 percent.