Investors piled into low-yielding currencies such as the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc as Wall Street seemed set for a lower open after its dramatic rise last session, while European equities fell one percent.

Trade tensions came after a Reuters report that the White House was considering barring US firms from buying telecoms equipment from China's Huawei and ZTE.

The Mexican peso firmed 0.14 percent, while Brazil's real hit its lowest since Dec 10 before cutting some losses to trade 0.2 percent lower.

Among stocks, Brazil's Bovespa stock index rose 0.2 percent with shares of utility company Eletrobras and airliner Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA among the top gainers.

Shares in Chile were little changed, while its currency declined 0.2 percent.