The currencies of crude importers led gains, with the Indian rupee and the Indonesian rupiah strengthening as oil prices dipped on a rise in US crude stockpiles.

Losses for other currencies were limited by a cautious return of risk appetite that weakened the US dollar in a market thinned out the US Thanksgiving holiday.

"We see quite a significant rally for currencies of India and Indonesia on account of falling oil prices and for the Indonesia rupiah the cancellation of their bond auctions for the rest of the year seems to have helped," said Hao Zhou, a senior EM Asia economist at Commerzbank

"The biggest issue right now is the different views surrounding the rate hike process in the US We don't know which one will be right, but expect a big debate in the coming weeks and the topic to dominate the market until the December (central bank) meeting," he said.

The US Federal Reserve has signalled it still expects to raise interest rates, but it has indicated it's concerned about a potential global slowdown. That and sharp declines by US stocks have convinced investors its monetary tightening may soon peter out.

Among other major emerging-market currencies, the Chinese yuan edged lower and Turkey's lira, down around 30 percent this year, dipped half a percent. The Russian rouble climbed 0.2 percent.

The South African rand slipped against the dollar before a central bank meeting later in the day. Analysts were split over the chances it would raise rates or leave them unchanged as inflation pressures mount.

"There is also an unspoken suggestion that political will may influence a decision to keep rates low as we move into the election period," said Shaun Murison, a senior market analyst at IG Markets in Johannesburg.

The MSCI index of emerging markets stocks inched lower. Tech stocks weighed on indexes in Taiwan and South Korea following Apple's decline this week. Trade tensions kept mainland China stocks under pressure.

Stocks in Russia fell 0.3 percent. Turkey's BIST stock index declined 0.7 percent.