The Singapore dollar and the Indonesian rupiah slid on Monday on dollar short-covering and a weaker euro, while the South Korean won found support as some players took advantage of its declines against the yen to buy the local currency on dips.
The euro fell to a session low against the dollar and the yen after a newspaper said Greece had asked to restructure its debt at a recent meeting of European financial officials.
The single currency later pared its losses after Greece denied the newspaper report. The baht edged up 0.1 percent to 30.10 from the close of April 12. The country's financial markets were closed from Wednesday to Friday for holidays. Some market players are taking advantage of the fall in the won against the yen during the broader bout of cross/yen liquidation to buy the South Korean currency versus the yen, partly to take advantage of wide interest rate differentials.
The won's value against the yen was too weak given economic fundamentals of South Korea, a senior local bank dealer in Seoul said. A break back above 13.3000/3500 of the yen/won would threaten to reverse the downtrend in place. The Singapore dollar shed up to 0.3 percent against the US dollar as investors covered short positions in the greenback.
The currency fell in early trade but looked ready to recoup its losses as interbank speculators chased it, betting on further gains. But the slide in the euro after the news about Greece prompted further short covering. The rupiah lost as much as 0.2 percent to 8,673 against the dollar as investors covered dollar-short positions. The Indonesian currency may head to 8,692 per dollar, the weakest level of April 1, a day before it gapped up, if investors cover short-positions further to fill the gap.