Russia's rouble tumbled on Wednesday as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced his government's resignation, while Brazil's currency and stocks eased after the release of weaker-than-expected retail sales figures.
The rouble hit a one-week low after Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, announced the resignation in a move he said was to give the president room to carry out changes to the constitution.
But by 9:21 a.m. EST (1421 GMT), the currency had recovered to trade near flat versus the dollar.
"We see Russia's macro and credit fundamentals as quite strong and see those as mitigating the uncertainty from these political developments," said Jakob Christensen, head of emerging market research at Danske Bank.
"I don't think it will be a major driver for Russian assets."
Other developing world currencies were pressured by a 0.7% fall for Brazil's real, as data showed retail sales in Latin America's biggest economy rose just 0.6% in November from the previous month, below a forecast of 1.1%.
An index of Latin American currencies, which is heavily weighted toward the real, dipped about 0.2%.
Brazilian assets have lagged regional peers this year as optimism around faster global growth was dimmed by a spate of mixed domestic economic data, despite several attempts by the central bank to kick-start the economy.
The mood on Wednesday was further dulled by reports that China had pledged to increase purchases of US agricultural goods by about $32 billion under an initial deal to end the long trade war between the world's two biggest economies. China is Brazil's biggest market for soybeans.
"Chinese purchases of US agricultural products might mean that there's less demand left there for Brazilian soybeans," said Edward Glossop, Latin America economist at Capital Economics in London.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He were to sign the Phase 1 agreement in Washington on Wednesday, after which the text of the deal will be disclosed.
The Chilean peso eased about 0.3% versus the dollar on lower copper prices and lingering caution after rare anti-government protests in the country last year.
Mexico's peso and the Peruvian sol firmed slightly, while the Colombian peso was almost unchanged.