Dollar under pressure as Fed timetable in focus

Tokyo - The dollar edged down for a second day against emerging market currencies in Asia on Friday as dealers focus on the pace of the expected rise in US interest rates.

Confidence among traders has been boosted after minutes from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday showed its policymakers are satisfied the US economy is strong enough to withstand a rate hike next month.

The key beneficiaries have been the Malaysian ringgit and Indonesia's rupiah, which each surged more than half a percent Friday following healthy gains the day before.

"The pullback seen in the US dollar in the wake of the Fed minutes does seem to reflect a lot of uncertainty around the pace of rate hikes by the Fed," Angus Nicholson of IG told clients in an email.

"It is this US dollar weakness and ongoing swoon in commodity prices that provides a jarring counterpoint to the gains seen in Asian equities of late."

The greenback edged up to ¥122.97 from ¥122.87 while the euro was at $1.0705 against $1.0735. However, on Wednesday in New York the dollar was at a near three-month high of ¥123.59.

The euro fell to ¥131.64 on Friday from ¥131.90 late on Thursday.

"Traders are pulling back from their long dollar trades for now, given speculation that the Fed's tightening cycle may be more gradual than the market had previously priced," Imre Speizer, markets strategist at Westpac Banking in Auckland, told Bloomberg News.

The dollar continued to face headwinds from higher-yielding, or riskier, emerging units on Friday.

The ringgit rose 1.53%, while the rupiah tacked on 0.97% and the South Korean won added 0.64%.

The Taiwan dollar and Thai baht also pushed higher.