SINGAPORE -- The South Korean won dropped to an 11-year low but then turned up sharply on Friday, leading Asian currencies higher as investors also took heart on signs of confidence in Beijing that China's economy is recovering.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao disappointed the market on Thursday by failing to announce fresh stimulus measures. But top officials, including the central bank chief, suggested on Friday that the economy is recovering.

The won had a volatile session. It fell as much as 1.8 percent in early trade to an 11-year low, but since that took it into territory at which authorities had intervened this week, investor bought the currency back and it turned higher. No intervention was spotted on Friday.

The won rose 1.5 percent to 1,544.9 per dollar, finding additional support from comments by a senior government official aimed at soothing fears of a possible dollar-funding crisis in the country.

Bahk Jae-wan, a senior secretary to the president for state affairs planning, said on Friday that South Korea's foreign exchange reserves -- at $201.5 billion in February -- were more than adequate judging by international criteria.

The won is down almost 19 percent so far this year on investors' concerns about the extent of the country's short-term foreign liabilities.

The total due in one year amounted to $194 billion at the end of 2008, just short of the foreign currency reserves.

The Taiwan dollar took a cue from the won's turnaround and rose to hit a one-week high at 34.723 per US dollar. The Taiwan dollar is sensitive to won movements because Taiwan and Korea are competitors in exports markets.

The Singapore dollar gained half of a percent to 1.5473 per US dollar as investors sought to hedge their long US dollar positions amid continued fears that the central bank might intervene to support the local unit.

"There has been some (US dollar) selling by real money accounts for hedging," said Singapore-based trader.

The Singapore dollar has lost 4.0 percent in the past month.

But another trader cautioned that the Singapore dollar would fall again because the market was buying the US dollar on dips and on the view that the economy would remain in recession for some months.

The Malaysian ringgit rose to 3.714 per dollar, moving largely in tandem with the Singapore dollar, after hitting a three-year low earlier in the day.

Official data issued on Friday showed Malaysia's exports fell by a worse-than-expected 27.8 percent in January from a year ago, the biggest fall in almost three decades.

The tightly-held Chinese yuan also edged up to 6.8381 per dollar while one-year dollar/yuan non-deliverable forwards eased to 6.9440 from Thursday's 6.9445.

While currencies rose, Asian stocks fell, focusing more on global concerns about the United States after US stocks tumbled to 12-year lows on news auditors raised doubt about General Motors' ability to survive outside of bankruptcy.

The United States reports employment data later that is expected to show the economy shed 648,000 jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate to a 25-year high of 7.9 percent.