SINGAPORE -- The South Korean won and Indonesian rupiah led a sharp decline in Asian currencies on Monday, driven by tumbling stock markets, an acute shortage of dollars and broader growth concerns.

Markets in parts of Asia were closed on several days last week and that piled additional pressure on currencies, such as the rupiah, as emerging markets globally feel the impact of the global credit crisis.

The won fell nearly 5.0 percent to a 6-1/2-year low of 1,286.9 per dollar, before paring some of those losses on talk of intervention by the authorities.

In major markets, the euro fell to a 2-? year low against the yen and the Aussie too plunged against the yen as any relief over the US government's approval of a $700-billion bank bailout package proved fleeting and gave way to anxiety over the failure of European leaders to agree on a rescue plan.

The rupiah fell as far as 9,565 per dollar, its weakest in more than two years.

"The preference to hold dollars remains acute even in Asia," said Emmanuel Ng, a strategist at OCBC Bank.

"It doesn't help that Asian central banks are also gradually looking at softening up on rate policy on the back of the global slowdown, with the PBOC, CBRC already the first ones to move," he said, referring to recent rate cuts in China and Taiwan.

Analysts said that besides the risk aversion and funding problems spurred by the crisis, the underlying concerns about economic growth, particularly the fear of recession, were weighing on market sentiment.

That fear is expected to sway policy in Asia, with the focus on monetary meetings in Indonesia, the Philippines, Korea, Singapore and Thailand this week.

JPMorgan Chase said in a note it expected Singapore to possibly shift to a more dovish policy stance from its current gradual tightening policy, which is uniquely pursued through guiding the trade-weighted exchange rate.

The Singapore dollar was quoted around 1.4610 per dollar, 0.8 percent weaker than levels at close on Friday.