EMERGING MARKETS-Trump tariffs rattle emerging assets from Mexico City to Bangkok

By Rishav Chatterjee

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Major Asian currencies slumped on Monday with the Malaysian ringgit and Thai baht leading losses, as trade war fears weighed on sentiment after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on imports from the United States' three biggest trade partners.

The Mexican peso MXN= fell more than 2% to its lowest since March 2022 while China's yuan CNH=D3 touched a record low in offshore trading after Trump delivered on his promise of hitting Canada and Mexico with duties of 25% and China with 10%.

The Canadian dollar CAD= slumped to its lowest since April 2003.

The U.S. dollar =USD rallied on Monday on expectations of the tariffs announced over the weekend fuelling inflationary pressure and keeping U.S. interest rates elevated. That scenario is likely to hurt foreign currencies which are set to drop as U.S. demand falls due to costlier imports.

"We expect continued U.S. dollar strength, as tariffs may bring upside risks for U.S. inflation, which should delay the Federal Reserve's easing process and keep U.S. policymakers on more hawkish rhetoric," said IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong.

"Heightened growth risks in other economies could lead to a wider policy divergence with the U.S., which could support flows for the U.S. dollar."

The Philippine peso PHP=, which fell 1% in the first month of 2025, was trading 0.4% lower on Monday while the Taiwan dollar TWD=TP and Singapore dollar SGD= slumped 1.3% and 0.9% respectively.

Equity markets in developing nations took a hit as well, with stocks in South Korea .KS11 and Indonesia .JKSE losing 3.1% and 1.6% respectively. Shares in Bangkok .SETI dropped as much as 3.3% to their lowest since late 2020.

The Taiwan share market .TWII tumbled as much as 4.4% and is on course for its weakest trading session in five months. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co 2330.TW dropped 6.6% to its lowest in a month.

The decline comes as investors play catch up to a global selloff in artificial intelligence-related stocks last week when markets were caught off-guard by news that DeepSeek's AI model could rival those of U.S. majors. Taiwan's markets were closed last week due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

China's stock market was closed on Monday due to a public holiday.

In Southeast Asia, investors were awaiting inflation data from Indonesia. A Reuters poll showed the region's largest economy grew at a steady pace last quarter, driven by strong consumer spending and exports. The rupiah IDR= was trading 1% lower against the greenback, hitting a seven-month low.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Philippine central bank says rate cut 'on the table' in February

Indonesia's FDI at $55.3 bln in 2024