Bloomberg reported sources saying that President Donald Trump was considering pushing the deadline by 60 days to give negotiators more time. Wei Liang Chang, a FX strategist at Mizuho Bank said markets were cautious over the chances of a quick agreement on structural issues with regard to intellectual property rights and market access, and Chang believed an extension of the deadline was likely.
Still, the South Korean won slid as much as 0.4 percent, the most in the region. The move was in tandem with the local KOSPI stock index which was trading 0.3 percent lower. Currencies of major oil importers, the Indonesian rupiah and Indian rupee also weakened, with the latter seeing its worst day Feb. 7, as crude prices rose.
Losses in the rupiah also came ahead of trade data due on Friday. A Reuters poll predicted that Indonesia would be posting another wide trade deficit in January even though imports probably contracted for the first time since June 2017.
Bucking the trend, the Singapore dollar and Philippine peso firmed 0.2 percent each.
The ringgit edged higher after Malaysia reported economic growth rose in the fourth quarter, in line with expectations, after four quarters of slowing growth. The Chinese yuan traded flat, barely reacting to better-than-expected January trade data released earlier in the day.