Asian currencies fall broadly

Emerging Asian currencies fell broadly on Monday, with the Thai baht hitting a five-month low, after violent protests in Egypt caused oil prices to spike and prompted investors to dump riskier assets. Higher energy prices have exacerbated fears that some Asian policymakers are falling behind price pressures.
The baht and the Indian rupee have lost about 3 percent against the dollar so far this year, and traders say Indonesian authorities have shielded the rupiah against a deeper fall. The rupee and the rupiah fell 0.4 percent against the dollar from their previous closes.
South Korea's won fell 0.6 percent, snapping a string of five consecutive sessions of advances against the dollar, as foreign investors dumped local stocks, although the local currency found some relief from exporters' demand for end-month settlements. Foreign investors sold a net 693.8 billion won ($618.6 million) worth of stocks, more than four times of amount that they unloaded on Friday. The baht hit a near five-month low against the dollar, breaking through a 200-day moving average, and dealers and analysts expected the currency to fall more.