"Asian currencies are benefiting from the market's overall risk-on tone and dollar-selling," said Satoshi Okagawa, senior global markets analyst at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Singapore. Emerging Asian currencies have also found support after Greece's international lenders clinched an agreement last week on reducing its debt, opening the way for Athens to get urgently needed loans.
The rupee underperformed, easing 0.5 percent to 54.54 against the dollar. Dollar-buying by local importers including oil firms weighed on the rupee. Oil companies are the largest buyers of dollars in India's domestic currency market. The peso, however, could come under pressure against the dollar in the near term on position squaring, and also due to the potential for dollar demand from corporate clients, said a trader for a European bank.
The rupiah was seen likely to come under pressure after data showed that Indonesia posted a record $1.54 billion trade deficit in October as exports fell more than expected and imports surged. In addition to such negative economic fundamentals, the rupiah could fall if investor risk appetite weakens in the near term, said Andy Ji, Asian currency strategist for Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Singapore.