Ringgit leads decline in Asian trade

The Malaysian ringgit breached a technical support line on Monday, leading declines in Asian emerging currencies, as investors continued to reduce exposure to riskier assets on worries about Greece's debt crisis and slackening global economic growth.
The ringgit weakened past 3.0382 per dollar, the 61.8 percent retracement level of its strengthening trend between late May and early June as interbank speculators covered dollar-short positions. Leveraged names and corporate also sold the Malaysian currency. The ringgit has room to further if investors continue to reduce exposure to risky assets, probably to 3.0558, the 50 percent retracement line of its strengthening trend between December last year and April.
The won shed 0.3 percent against the dollar on outflows linked to foreign investors' stock sales and as importers bought the greenback. Still, the South Korean currency did not weaken past 1,086.8 per dollar, the 55-day moving average, helped by exporters' demand for settlements.
The Philippine peso recovered nearly half of its earlier losses as local interbank speculators cleared dollar-long positions to take profits. The peso succeeded to stay firmer than 43.400 per dollar, the 61.8 pct Fibonacci retracement level of its strengthening trend between late May and early June.