Asian shares slid on Friday after a Republican proposal to fend off a US fiscal crunch failed to get enough support, deepening uncertainty over prospects for the negotiations to avert automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to start in January.
"Markets disliked signs of further delay in talks, with the risk that a deal may not be reached by the end of the year deadline," said Yuji Saito, director of foreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo. "It clearly hit risk sentiment."
Risk assets were sold off, from shares, oil to currencies such as the Australian dollar and the euro, while the yen rirmed slightly, though it was pinned near multi-month lows versus the dollar and the euro.
US S&P 500 stock futures plunged 1.5% on worries over the US "fiscal cliff".
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4%, after having traded up 0.2% at the open.
The US House of Representatives will adjourn until after Christmas, Republican Representative Peter Roskam said on Thursday, after House Speaker John Boehner's proposed tax bill designed to avert the fiscal cliff failed to pass. The proposal was aimed at extracting concessions from the White House, which had threatened to veto it, and advance talks closer to a deal.
The Republican-led US House of Representatives, which abruptly recessed on late Thursday, may return as soon as December 27 with a yet-to-be-decided new plan, said a senior party aide.
US 10-year Treasuries rose in Asia on Friday, with yields moving away from an 8-week high hit this week, after Boehner conceded that his tax bill lacked the votes to pass.
Australian shares slipped to a 0.1% drop from a 0.4% gain earlier and Japanese Nikkei average erased nearly all gains as the yen strengthened.
The dollar was down 0.2% to 84.20 yen, easing from around 84.40 earlier, but still near a 20-month high of 84.62 yen hit on Wednesday.
The euro slumped 0.6% to 111.11 yen from around 111.78 yen earlier, but also near a 16-month high of 112.59 yen reached on Wednesday.
The yen was kept under pressure after the Bank of Japan further eased monetary policy as expeced on Thursday, with investors anticipating that the central bank will be persuaded to pursue more drastic measures next year. The incoming prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has called for bolder action by the central bank to help bring Japan out of decades-long deflation.
For all the worries of a fiscal cliff debacle, several data series showed the United States remained on a recovery track, helping to underpin the US currency.
The world's largest economy grew at a faster-than-expected 3.1% annual rate in the third quarter, while other data on Thursday showed factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region picked up this month and home resales in November were the best in three years.
The euro fell 0.4% to $1.3195, off an 8-1/2-month high of $1.33085 touched on Wednesday.
The improving US economy and a stabilising Europe eroded the appeal of gold as a crisis hedge, triggering a technical sell-off and heavy liquidation by hedge funds before the year-end.
Spot gold prices plunged more than 1% on Thursday to a low of $1,635.09 an ounce, the weakest since August 22, sending the market below its 200-day moving average. Gold fell 0.2% to $1,643.71 on Friday.
US crude fell 0.8% to $89.38 a barrel and Brent shed 0.4% to $109.70.