SINGAPORE: Asian currencies were mixed versus the dollar on Monday, with the South Korean won proving the strongest gainer due to year-end position squaring and dollar-selling by local exporters.
The Philippine peso edged higher, helped by strong year-end remittances from overseas Filipino workers.
The Malaysian ringgit was an underperformer, pressured by dollar-buying by interbank speculators and local market participants.
Market sentiment toward emerging market currencies soured in the early part of last week after sliding oil prices triggered volatility across a variety of assets and as a plunge in the Russian rouble spooked investors.
However, an upbeat economic assessment by the US Federal Reserve at last week's policy review calmed market nerves, while the mood has also improved as oil prices and the rouble bounced from their recent troughs.
Still, market participants remained cautious on the outlook for Asian currencies.
A trader for a Malaysian bank in Kuala Lumpur said there had been some dollar-buying against Asian currencies on Monday, adding that "nobody" wanted to be short the dollar.
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