The South Korean won and the Indian rupee led Asian currencies lower on Tuesday as investors took profits amid a drop in the stock market, but losses in the region were limited by exporters and a view that their bullish trend remains intact.
Emerging Asian currencies also slid against the yen as market players cut back carry trades, but they may use it as an opportunity to buy back some local currencies such as the won versus the Japanese unit, analysts and dealers said.
"Faltering growth in the developed economies is not going to be something to help Asian countries, and could pose a threat to what is now a robust growth scenario. This dent in confidence is hurting Asian currencies and risk assets for the moment," said Christopher Gothard, Head of FX for Brown Brothers Harriman in Hong Kong. The Taiwan dollar has risen 4.2 percent against the greenback so far this year and the won also has gained about 4 percent. The Singapore dollar hit a record high on Friday. The won slid as investors added dollar positions to take profits from the won's recent gains but recovered some of its earlier losses from exporters' demand for settlements.
Exporters bought the South Korean currency as it found strong support around 1,102, which the foreign exchange authorities had defended. The won lost 0.8 percent to 13.2654 versus the yen, but the fall may provide investors to build up yen-short positions, dealers and analysts said.
The ringgit fell on dollar-short covering but interbank speculators sought chances to buy it whenever it weakened past 3.0300 per dollar, as it has supports around 3.0300 and 3.0400. Earlier, the Malaysian currency weakened to 3.0350, the weakest since Mar 24. The ringgit faces support at 3.0351, a 55-day moving average, and at 3.0400, a 50 percent retracement line of its March-April rising trend. The ringgit also found support from selling Singapore dollar against the Malaysian currency. The ringgit edged down to 2.4244, but market is targeting its next support at 2.4150.