Asian currencies were pulled down as the Japanese yen weakened past 110 per dollar on Monday, with Southeast Asia leading the losses.
The Philippine peso has been hobbled by government talk of a fiscal crisis, markets are cautious on the Indonesian rupiah ahead of next month's presidential vote, and a slowing economy and persistent violence in Thailand's south have pushed the baht to one-year lows.
"There's definitely a strongest dollar trend which is going through, underlying all of this," Bank of America strategist Sameer Goel said, pointing to the dollar's gains against the yen and euro.
In north Asia, a return of foreign investors to equity markets, notably Taiwan, and easing oil prices offered support.
Oil prices were steady above $43 a barrel, and dealers expected more retracement from record highs, while stock markets were flat to softer but holding onto their gains of recent weeks.
The Indonesian rupiah softened beyond 9,360 per dollar, its weakest since just before the first round of presidential elections in early July.
In recent weeks, the market had been capped by a wariness of central bank intervention around 9,300 per dollar, although traders said the bank was not a buyer on Monday as the rupiah's fall was not drastic.
The rupiah has lost more than 10 percent against the US dollar this year and is expected to stay under pressure ahead of the September 20 presidential vote pitting incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri against market favourite Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The Philippine peso extended last week's slide to hit a two-month low of 56.25 per dollar. The peso has been under pressure since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said last week that the country was suffering a fiscal crisis.
Goel said Arroyo's words seemed aimed at putting the need for fiscal reform on the domestic political agenda to gain support for her plans to bring the budget deficit under control.
"There is a risk involved in using strong words like 'fiscal crisis' which obviously gets people rather worried, but I still do feel there is no indication therein that they are actually thinking about reneging on their debt or any such drastic steps," he said.
Data showing Philippine GDP had risen by a stronger than expected 6.2 percent in the year through the second quarter offered the peso little respite.
The Thai baht held near last week's one-year low, but the market was wary of the Bank of Thailand intervening if it weakened past 41.70 per dollar.
The Thai Finance Ministry trimmed its 2004 growth forecast to 6.5 to 7.0 percent, from 7.1 percent, due to higher oil prices and slower growth in the first quarter.
The Taiwan dollar opened local trade testing resistance at 34.00 per dollar, a level that has held since late July.
However, its early strength soon disappeared and it retreated past Friday's local close.
Similarly, the Korean won hit a peak of 1,150 per dollar, its highest since July 14, but then gradually weakened with the yen to end slightly softer.
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