BENGALURU (Oct 26): Most emerging Asian currencies struggled to gain traction on Monday, with Indonesia's rupiah slipping past the 18,100-per-dollar level to its weakest since late July, while investors monitored political developments in Brazil.

Investor attention in Brazil centred on the fallout from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's election victory after Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the right-wing candidate favoured by many investors, refused to concede.

Brazilian markets were yet to open, with the real up 6.4% so far this year and the benchmark Bovespa index 8.4% higher.

"President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's surprise re-election with 51.8% of valid votes challenges a Brazilian asset rally driven by expectations of a market-friendly administration after Senator Flávio Bolsonaro's first-round victory," UBS analysts said in a note.

In Indonesia, the Jakarta stock index fell more than 1% early in the session before trimming losses to down about 0.8%. 

Markets continued to assess MSCI's warning that Indonesian equities could be downgraded to "standalone" market status, while authorities on Monday unveiled measures to tackle stock market manipulation in response to concerns over coordinated trading.

The rupiah weakened to 18,115 per US dollar and remained the region's worst-performing currency, having shed about 8% so far this year.

Meanwhile, an MSCI gauge of global emerging-market currencies slipped 0.2%, with the Philippine peso hitting a record low of 63.865 per US dollar.

Analysts at HSBC said the currency's weakness reflects concerns over the Philippines' persistent current account deficit, low foreign direct investment and dwindling foreign-exchange reserves.

Among regional equity markets, South Korean shares fell 0.5% ahead of earnings from chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics later this week.

Investors also await results from US technology heavyweights Alphabet and Microsoft for clues on spending related to the ongoing AI buildout.

Tech-heavy Taiwan was closed for a public holiday, while Philippine stocks and Singapore shares shed 0.9% and 0.4%, respectively. 

Thailand's benchmark index edged 0.3% higher ahead of the central bank's policy decision on Wednesday, with markets widely expecting rates to remain unchanged for a fourth consecutive meeting.

Investors also awaited a raft of policy decisions from major central banks this week, with markets pricing in steady rates from the US Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and European Central Bank.    

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