SINGAPORE: Emerging Asian currencies rose on Friday as the yen rebounded after Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso warned against the currency's recent swift fall, although most regional units were set for another week of losses.
The yen gained as Aso earlier described the currency's weakening as "too rapid," but ruled out intervention to halt the slide.
The rebound caused investors to cover short positions in emerging Asian currencies.
Still, most regional units were poised to post weekly losses, led by the South Korean won, as the yen hit a seven-year low against the dollar on Thursday.
The won ended the week down 1.2 percent against the dollar, its fourth week of declines, according to Thomson Reuters data. That was the longest streak of weekly losses since May 2013.
South Korea's foreign exchange authorities were suspected of intervening to check the won's strength against the yen on concerns it would erode the competitiveness of exporters against their Japanese rivals.
The Taiwan dollar fell 0.8 percent with the island's exporters also seen vulnerable to weakness in the yen and the won. The Indian rupee has eased 0.2 percent so far this week.
Malaysia's ringgit has slid 0.1 percent, while the Philippine peso closed the week down 0.1 percent.
The Indonesian rupiah stood firm in the face of falls in regional peers, having risen 0.7 percent.
Indonesia's President Joko Widodo on Monday announced a long-awaited decision to raise fuel prices and free up funds to rejuvenate Southeast Asia's biggest economy. The central bank on Tuesday hiked interest rates to temper an expected upsurge in inflation following the fuel price hike.
China's yuan has gained 0.1 percent on expectations of inflows due to a new link between the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.
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