The South Korean won weakened on Thursday, underperforming its Asian counterparts after senior officials expressed concern about the currency's strength.
But the Philippine peso hit a fresh 5-month high against the dollar, riding high on expectations of strong inflows of cash from overseas workers in coming weeks.
Trade in regional currencies was thin with markets in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan closed for holidays.
South Korea is worried the won has been moving excessively on temporary factors and the currency's deviation from global trends is not desirable, Kwon Tae-kyun, head of the finance ministry's international finance bureau, said on Thursday.
Rhee Gwang-ju, head of the central bank's international department, said he expected the yen/won cross rate to return to a "normal level" soon.
The comments and the suggestion by dealers that state-run banks bought about $200 million for won weighed on the currency.
It eased about 0.4 percent to 1,044.1 per dollar from a high point of 1,039.7. It also slipped to 8.93 per yen, pulling away from Wednesday's seven-year high around 8.88.
"The yen/won rate has been the focus, but when Asian central banks intervene in the currency market they usually do so in the dollar rate," said Richard Yetsenga, currency strategist at HSBC in Hong Kong.
"There is also talk that merger and acquisition flows that have been pushing dollar/won low have now finished."
The sale of a 23.4 percent stake by creditors of South Korean memory chip-maker Hynix has lifted the won, but South Korean officials say payments are completed.
The peso strengthened about a third of a percent to a fresh five-month high at 54.56 per dollar.
"There are still a lot of inflows from strong remittances," said a dealer in Manila.
He said the peso was given a fillip by breaking through chart resistance at 54.70.
Analysts said a focus on interest rate differentials has also boosted high-yielding currencies such as the peso.
The Philippine central bank's overnight borrowing rate is at 7.50 percent, while its lending rate is 9.75 percent - higher than interest rates in much of the region.
"Remittances are definitely one of the factors behind peso strength. Also, in this yield-searching environment, the peso and the rupiah have benefited," said Craig Chan, currency strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland.
The peso, which came under pressure from political turmoil earlier in the year, has firmed about three percent against the dollar in the past month.
The Taiwan dollar and Thai baht were little changed against the US currency, with focus turning to testimony on the US economy by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan later on Thursday.