 "Asia currencies falter on Ukraine anxiety")
Most Asian currencies slipped against the dollar on Friday as jitters over heightened tensions in Ukraine and worries over an economic slowdown in China curbed investors' appetite for riskier assets.
Russia launched new military exercises near its border with Ukraine on Thursday, showing no sign of backing down on plans to annex its neighbour's Crimea region despite a stronger-than-expected drive for sanctions from the EU and United States.
At the UN Security Council, the United States circulated a draft resolution that would declare illegal Sunday's planned referendum on independence for Ukraine's Crimea region.
"Crimea risk is very real ... Only the foolhardy will short dollar/Asia this weekend," said a trader for a Malaysian bank in Kuala Lumpur.
The Indonesian rupiah, the best performing emerging Asian currency so far this year, bucked the trend and rose 0.2%. The rupiah was on track for a gain of about 0.7% on the week.
Many emerging Asian currencies were on track for weekly losses, after a recent batch of weak Chinese data added to worries about an economic slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.
More From This Section
The Chinese yuan saw a rise in implied volatilities this week, with the bid rate for dollar/yuan three-month implied volatility now at 2.050%, up from 1.475% at the end of last week and well above a mid-February trough of 0.750%.
The People's Bank of China had surprised global markets in late February by engineering a sharp decline in the yuan, which traders said was done to deter speculators from betting the currency would appreciate non-stop.