Asian currencies fell on Tuesday as players turned cautious after the US dollar rebounded against major currencies ahead of a Group of Seven meeting, likely to discuss exchange rate issues.
Trading interest was likely to be subdued due to the Chinese New Year holidays across East Asia this week, dealers said.
The Singapore dollar dipped to 1.7140 per dollar, its lowest since December 12, before regaining some lost ground. The Thai baht touched 39.08 per dollar, its lowest in over a week, and the Philippine peso hit 55.75 per dollar, a level not seen since November 28.
Dealers in Manila said the peso closed local trade slightly higher thanks to intermittent US dollar sales by some foreign banks, suspected to be acting on behalf of the central bank.
The Korean won closed in on Thursday's two-week low of 1,192.5 per dollar, hit after the government imposed limits on local financial firms' trade with offshore markets. The move was seen as an attempt to curb the won's rise.
The Taiwan dollar pulled further back to around 33.737 per US dollar from last week's 17-month high at 33.657.
But dealers said exporter demand for the local currency ahead of the holidays limited the downside. Markets in Taiwan are closed from Wednesday and reopen the following Tuesday.
The Indonesian rupiah fell to two-week lows on the weaker side of 8,400 per dollar.
Comments by a Chinese government official that China would keep the yuan stable in 2004 pulled down the yuan premium in non-deliverable forward markets. The yuan is virtually pegged at around 8.28 per US dollar.
The one-year NDFs showed a premium of 4,000 points on the yuan, down from over 5,000 earlier this month.
Dealers said increased rhetoric by Asian and European government officials against gains in their currencies had prompted players to trim long positions in Asian regionals against the US dollar.
A meeting of European finance ministers and European Central Bank officials on Monday echoed their concerns on the pace of the euro's gains against the dollar.
Peter Redward, strategist at Deutsche Bank in Singapore, said it was difficult to say what the G7 meeting could achieve on the currency issue.
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