Most Asian currencies slipped on Monday, with the Indian rupee and South Korean won leading losses as concerns about potential U.S. tariffs and a slowing U.S. economy weighed on risk sentiment.
Regional currencies were unable to leverage the softer U.S. dollar with Singapore dollar, Malaysian ringgit, Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah trading between 0.1% and 0.2% down.
"The ongoing U.S. trade probe, set to conclude by April 1, may trigger further tariff headlines, adding to FX uncertainty," Goldman Sachs analysts wrote.
Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump declined to make a prediction on whether the U.S. economy was heading towards recession or not from the tariffs imposed on its trading partners.
Trump on Thursday suspended the 25% tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico until April 2. It was the second time in two months that Trump has walked back tariffs on the U.S. neighbours.
Trump has also threatened to impose a global regime of reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. trading partners.
The dollar index was at 103.86, near its four-month low, as investors were worried about a potential weakening of the U.S. labour market while trade tensions continue to play out.
The Philippine peso appreciated 0.2% while shares rose 0.6% to their highest since late January. The country's stock index has been rising for the last six sessions, boosted by slower-than-expected inflation.
Citi analysts revised down their 2025 and 2026 inflation forecasts to 2.6% and 3.2%, respectively while predicting that inflation could stay in the lower half of Philippine central bank's target range of 2% to 4% for the rest of the year.
Following the lead of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Bank Negara Malaysia kept its key interest rate unchanged on Thursday, while Indonesia and Thailand have reduced their interest rates this year.
Emerging market currencies have enjoyed a relatively favourable year so far with most of them having logged gains. The Singapore dollar stood just behind yen's 6.5% gain with a rise of 2.5% so far this year.
The Indian rupee and the Indonesian rupiah have been the worst-performing currencies with year-to-date falls of 1.9% and 1.4%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Thailand said it plans to initiate measures to push the country's economic growth to 3% this year, which failed to drive stocks in Bangkok that were last down 1.1%.
China's consumer price index in February missed expectations and fell at the sharpest pace in 13 months, while producer price deflation persisted. Stocks shed 0.6% while the yuan slipped 0.2%.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Philippines says its actions in South China Sea driven by national interest
** U.S. to levy fees on China-linked ships, push allies to do likewise, draft executive order says
** U.S. mulling a ban on Chinese app DeepSeek from government devices, source says - Reuters
