TOKYO: The yen picked up pace Wednesday after an oil output freeze by Saudi Arabia and Russia disappointed investors, while China's yuan headed for its largest two-day decline in more than a month.
Traders pushed into the Japanese unit -- considered a safe investment in times of turmoil -- after the conditional agreement to freeze oil output at record January levels, rather than make cuts.
The pact involving the world's two biggest producers as well as Venezuela and Qatar was widely viewed as not enough after a rout that has seen the cost of a crude collapse and global markets hammered.
In Tokyo, the dollar edged down to 113.85 yen from 114.03 in New York late Tuesday and compared with 114.83 yen in Tokyo Tuesday afternoon.
The euro was at $1.1150 and 126.94 yen against $1.1143 and 127.07 yen.
China's yuan fell 0.12 percent to 6.5259 against the dollar on Wednesday morning, according to China Foreign Exchange Trade System prices.
It has declined 0.5 percent over the past two days, the most since early January.
On Monday, the unit surged more than one percent against the dollar after the head of the People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, said there was no reason the currency should fall further after a six-month slide.
His comments in a weekend interview were his first on the crisis as authorities look to bring some stability to the country's beleaguered markets.
Emerging currencies also took a hit from the underwhelming oil deal with the crude-reliant Malaysian ringgit tumbling 1.34 percent against the dollar. The Indonesian rupiah fell 0.80 percent and the Philippine peso slid 0.35 percent.
Dealers are keeping an eye out for minutes from the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting, due later Wednesday, which experts will pore over for clues about the bank's thinking on monetary policy.
"The market remains sensitive, closely watching remarks by monetary authorities," said Toshihiko Sakai, chief forex trading manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking.
"It would not be surprising if we go back to volatile trade again."
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