BENGALURU: Asian emerging market stocks pulled back from record highs on Tuesday, as investors grew cautious ahead of a slate of US tech earnings that could test the artificial intelligence-driven rally.
The MSCI EM Asia gauge fell 0.2 percent, while the MSCI International EM declined 0.1 percent.
Signs of investor caution were also evident in currency markets, with the MSCI gauge of global EM currencies falling 0.3 percent.
The Philippine peso depreciated nearly 1 percent, breaching the 61-per-dollar mark for the first time to hit a record low of 61.266 and logging its worst day since September 2025.
The currency has fallen nearly 4 percent so far in 2026, making it the worst performer in the region after the Indian rupee, which has fallen nearly 5 percent so far this year.
Geopolitical risks lingered after a US official said President Donald Trump was unhappy with the latest Iranian proposal, dampening hopes of a swift resolution to the Middle East conflict, which has disrupted energy supplies and stoked global inflation concerns, especially in oil-dependent emerging markets.
“Upside pressure (on dollar/peso) to continue for now, given the ongoing lack of clarity regarding the Iran war peace talks progress,” Maybank analysts wrote in a note.
On the stocks front, the retreat reflects caution ahead of earnings from major US technology firms, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Apple, this week.
In East Asia, Taiwanese stocks, a key beneficiary of the AI-led rally over the past year, traded lower after scaling an all-time high in the previous session.
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