Fed move irks emerging nations

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Finance ministers from Brazil, South Korea and Thailand said they were considering measures to counter the latest U.S. monetary policy decision.

The U.S. Federal Reserve said Wednesday it would restart a Treasury bond purchasing program and buy $75 billion in bonds per month through June for a spending total of $600 billion.

But some emerging nations fear the move could add to the flood of foreign funds headed in their direction, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Foreign capital is already moving from developed nations to emerging stock markets at a rate of $2 billion a day, a research note from DBS in Singapore said.

Thailand's Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said "neighboring countries" and the central bank of Thailand had agreed to "impose measures together, if needed, to curb possible speculative money flowing into the region."

The Fed's move also has the effect of diluting the value of the dollar. The Thai baht is already 11 percent higher against the U.S. dollar this year. The Japanese yen has gained 15 percent and the South Korean won 5 percent, the Times said.

Export-oriented emerging nations count on U.S. consumers to buy the goods they produce, but the weaker dollar means their goods will be more expensive in the United States, a major concern among nations like Japan, Brazil and India.