The safe-haven yen and Swiss franc jumped to multiweek highs on Friday as worries about the global economic impact of the latest coronavirus outbreak in China intensified.
The yen rose to a three-week high against the dollar, while the Swiss franc climbed to a two-week peak.
The Australian dollar fell to a four-month low against the U.S. dollar, while China's offshore yuan struggled to find a footing in the wake of the virus outbreak.
The World Health Organization said late Thursday that the coronavirus outbreak was a global emergency, prompting the United States and other countries to tighten travel curbs on Friday.
All three major U.S. airlines -- United Airlines Holdings Inc <UAL.O>, Delta Air Lines Inc <DAL.N>, and American Airlines Group Inc <AAL.O> -- announced the cancellation of flights to mainland China on Friday after the U.S. State Department elevated a travel advisory over concerns about the coronavirus.
"When we take a look at the overall picture heading into the week, there was some optimism that we could still see strong earnings. There's anticipation that eventually we're going to see a trickle-down effect of the Phase 1 trade deal with China," said Edward Moya, senior market strategist at OANDA in New York.
"Right now, none of that matters. It's all about the virus and its impact on the Chinese economy and its trading partners," he added.
U.S. data on consumer spending and personal income did push the dollar a little higher against the yen and euro earlier, as core consumer prices as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.2% last month after advancing just 0.1% the previous four months.
But the U.S. data's impact was short-lived.
Investors remained transfixed on the casualties from the virus and feared its impact on the global economy, including businesses such as airlines and hotels.
The death toll rose to 213 on Friday, all in China. The number of confirmed cases in China has risen beyond 9,800, Beijing's envoy to the United Nations in Vienna said, while some 131 cases have been reported in 23 other countries and regions.
China's offshore yuan gave up earlier gains and was last down against the dollar. The U.S. currency added 0.1% to 6.9884 <CNH=>, although that was some way off the 7.0038 level the yuan dropped to on Thursday.
The dollar fell 0.5% against the yen to 108.35 yen <JPY=> in afternoon trading, after earlier dropping to a three-week low of 108.33 yen. The greenback also slid to a two-week trough versus the Swiss franc and was last at 0.9637 franc <CHF=>.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars, both sensitive to sentiment in China, fell to new multimonth lows.
The New Zealand dollar <NZD=D3> dropped 0.5% to US$0.6463, after earlier touching a two-month low. The Australian dollar <AUD=D3> lost 0.4% to US$0.6695, hitting a four-month low earlier.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes in London; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
