Asia markets were subdued on Friday amid greater political uncertainty stateside and as the euro rose to two-year highs on Thursday comments from the chief of the European Central Bank.
The Nikkei 225 (Nihon Keizai Shinbun: .N225) slid 0.21 percent and South Korea's benchmark Kospi (Korea Stock Exchange: .KS100) reversed earlier losses to gain 0.04 percent.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: .AXJO) fell 0.64 percent on broad-based declines across most sub-indexes. The heavily-weighted financials sub-index was down 0.63 percent after two straight days of gains. The energy and materials sub-indexes declined 1.29 percent and 1.22 percent respectively.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: .HSI) declined 0.13 percent, edging lower after nine consecutive days of gains. Greater China markets were a mixed picture. The Shanghai Composite (Shanghai Stock Exchange: .SSEC) was off 0.19 percent, but the Shenzhen Composite gained 0.161 percent.
The ECB announced Thursday it was holding interest rates and asset purchases steady . The central bank's president, Mario Draghi, said at a conference later in the day that discussions about potential changes to the central bank's quantitative easing (QE) program should take place in the fall. No fixed time frame was set for when those discussions would begin.
The euro (Exchange: EURBA=), which initially edged down after the ECB's decision, spiked to trade at two-year highs on the back of of Draghi's comments to trade above the $1.16 level. The common currency traded at $1.1626 at 9:39 a.m. HK/SIN.
Meanwhile, more political headlines out of the U.S. overnight put pressure on the dollar. Special Counsel Robert Mueller was looking into transactions involving President Donald Trump and people linked to him, Bloomberg reported.
The dollar index (New York Board of Trade (Futures): =USD) stood at 94.293 at 9:39 a.m. HK/SIN compared to a high of 95.167 seen earlier in the overnight session. The greenback (Exchange: JPY=) also softened against Japan's currency to fetch 111.98 yen compared to levels around the 112 handle seen earlier this week.
The dollar had taken a tumble on Tuesday on headlines related to stalled health care reforms in the U.S.
"This revelation is huge as just last week, President Trump said that expanding the investigation beyond Russia would be out of bounds. So with Mueller broadening the inquisition into Trump's business dealings, U.S. political risk could move to whole new levels as this foxtrot plays out," OANDA senior trader Stephen Innes said in a note.