The Philippine peso declined on speculation overseas investors will keep reducing holdings of the nation's stocks. South Korea's won also weakened.
Fund managers outside the Philippines sold more local shares than they bought for three days through Monday, the longest net sales since last November, according to the stock exchange.
Inflation eased to the slowest in more than three years last month, a report showed last week, giving the central bank more scope to cut interest rates.
"Stocks and the rate-cut speculation are both negative for the peso," said Minoru Shioiri, a senior manager of the foreign-exchange trading and credit division at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co in Tokyo. "Technically, the peso also seems to be under a downward correction."
The peso dropped 0.3 percent to 48.51 against the dollar as of 4:03pm in Manila, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The currency may slide to 48.80 this week, Shioiri said.
Global investors sold a net US$15.9 million in local stocks in the three days to Monday. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index declined 0.01 percent yesterday, adding to Monday's 0.4 percent drop and a 0.7 percent slide last week.
Philippine consumer prices rose 3.9 percent last month from a year earlier, the slowest since December 2003, the National Statistics Office said last Tuesday.
The slowdown confirmed the central bank's "inflation outlook" and gives policy makers "additional flexibility," central bank Governor Amando Tetangco said in a statement that day.
South Korea's won weakened to the lowest this month on speculation overseas investors will repatriate the proceeds from equity sales.
The won fell for a second day, reversing a gain, as stock exchange data showed fund managers outside of South Korea sold more shares than they bought for four straight days and last Thursday dumped the most in a month. The benchmark Kospi index of stocks, down 1 percent this year, on Monday had its biggest loss since Jan. 19.
The won dropped 0.2 percent to 939.50 against the dollar at the 3pm close of onshore trading, according to Seoul Money Brokerage Services Ltd.
Elsewhere, the New Taiwan dollar slid 0.2 percent to NT$33.081 on turnover of US$1.01 billion, the Indonesian rupiah fell 0.4 percent to 9,076 and the Singapore dollar slid 0.1 percent to S$1.5425.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai