Most emerging Asian currencies slipped on Monday, with the Malaysian ringgit hitting an eight-month low after data last week showed surprisingly tepid U.S. job growth in May, adding to investors' concerns about global growth.

Malaysian ringgit.

There was little respite for investors in emerging Asian currencies, which have slid over the past month on fears that Greece may exit the euro zone and worries that Spain may need external aid to shore up its ailing banking sector.

The weak U.S. jobs data and the chaos in Europe have put "fear into the market", said a trader for a Malaysian bank in Kuala Lumpur. "Risk aversion is the main theme," he said, adding that some market players were looking to cover their short dollar positions.

Dollar buying by hedge funds and interbank traders helped drag the ringgit lower, traders said.

The dollar rose to as high as 3.2050 versus the ringgit at one point, its highest since early October, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Against the Taiwan dollar, the greenback climbed to its highest level since mid-January of 30.055.

The Indonesian rupiah, which is now the worst performing emerging Asian currency this year according to Reuters data, gained some support due to dollar-selling intervention by Indonesia's central bank, and traders were wary about the possibility of more intervention.

The broad retreat in emerging Asian currencies came after data on Friday showed that U.S. employers added a paltry 69,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, the least since May of last year.

The weak reading has "very negative" implications for emerging Asian currencies, said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist and strategist for Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

"Weakening of the U.S. consumer means less demand for Asian exports, which will weigh on external positions and growth," he said.

"It also increases risk aversion in global markets, which is likely to lead to outflow of portfolio capital from Asia, further pressuring currencies," he added.

Source: Reuters