Emerging Currencies End Three-Day Winning Streak as Stocks Slump

Emerging-market currencies retreated for the first time this week and energy producers led stocks lower as commodities declined and investors weighed the outlook for higher U.S. interest rates.

The real slumped the most in two weeks as Brazil’s central bank eased support for the currency. The rand weakened after South African manufacturing slowed. The ruble fell for the first time in five days and Russian energy producers led stocks lower as crude prices retreated. Chinese shares rose as data showed the nation’s economy is stabilizing.

A Bloomberg measure of 20 currencies slid 0.3 percent at 11:06 a.m. in New York. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.2 percent to 975.93. Data showing an increase in U.S. retail sales supported the case for an increase in the near-zero interest rates that have buoyed demand for riskier assets. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of commodities sank 1.2 percent, ending a two-day advance.

Concern regarding U.S. borrowing costs will “develop as the Fed starts communicating more,” Peter Attard Montalto, an emerging-market strategist at Nomura International Plc, said by phone from London.

Fed officials weighing the timing of the first rate increase since 2006 are parsing the latest data to determine whether a first-quarter contraction was a harbinger of longer-lasting weakness in the world’s largest economy.