Investing.com - The Aussie fell after jobs data on Thursday and the yen held gains in Asia after a second straight unexpected gain in key data with with core machinery orders up sharply and as investors mulled the minutes of the Federal Reserve overnight pointing to a near-term rate hike.
USD/JPY changed hands at 110.00, down 0.18%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7218, down 0.15%.
In Australia, employment data showed a gain of 10,800 jobs, compared to 12,500 expected in April, with an unemployment rate at 5.7%, below the 5.8% level seen, and a participation rate of 64.8%, a tad lower than expected.
Earlier, in Japan, core machinery orders jumped 3.2%, well above the 0.8% gain seen for March year-on-year and at 5.5% pace month-on-month, beating a 0.5% rise expected. The Cabinet Office projects core machinery orders will slip 3.5% in the April-June quarter in reaction to a 6.7% rise in January-March, indicating the pace of a pickup remains gradual.
On Wednesday, in Japan, data showed that the economy grew by an annualized 1.7% in the three months to March, well ahead of forecasts for a 0.2% increase and recovering from a 1.7% contraction in the previous quarter.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.01% to 95.19.
Overnight, the dollar trimmed gains but remained supported against the other major currencies.
Expectations for an upcoming U.S. rate hike mounted after data on Tuesday showed that U.S. consumer prices rose at the fastest rate in more than three years in April.
Prices rose by 0.4% in April, the biggest one-month gain since February 2013, the Labor Department said on Tuesday.
Separate reports showed that housing starts and industrial production also rose strongly last month.
In addition, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and San Francisco Fed President John Williams both said on Tuesday that there could be two or three rate hikes this year.