Investing.com - The Bank of Japan Thursday released data on the inflation outlook measured in CPI among companies polled in its quarterly Tankan survey for September that showed an expected 1.5% rise in CPI in the coming year, unchanged from their average forecast in the previous survey.
The figures suggest companies are skeptical about the BoJ hitting the stable 2% inflation target during fiscal 2015 ending on March 31, 2016.
USD/JPY traded at 109.02, up 0.12%, after the data, retracing slightly. AUD/USD jumped to 0.8769, up 0.41%, on strong housing data.
Hong Kong and China markets remain shut on Thursday. Hong Kong will re-open on friday and mainland China on Oct. 8.
In Australia, the August trade balance came in at a deficit of A$787 million, wider than the A$700 million expected. Building approvals for the same month rose 3.0%, well above the expected 1.0% gain.
Overnight, the dollar cooled its recent rally against most major currencies and traded mixed after data revealed U.S. factory floors may not be as bustling as markets once inspected.
The employment sub-index slowed to 54.6 from 58.1 in the previous month, while the new orders sub-index fell to 60.0 from 66.7.
At the same time, separate data revealed that U.S. construction spending fell 0.8% in August to an annual rate of $960.96 billion. Analysts were expecting a decline of only 0.5%, and the day's data gave a few investors room to sell the greenback for profits.
The dollar has posted noteworthy gains in recent sessions on sentiments U.S. monetary policy will tighten while Europe and Japan remain loose.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, data showed that the U.S. private sector added more jobs than expected in September, which gave the greenback some support.
Payrolls processor ADP reported that the U.S. private sector added 213,000 jobs last month, just ahead of expectations for jobs growth of 210,000. The economy created 202,000 jobs in August.
The report came ahead of Friday’s government non-farm payrolls report, which includes both public and private sector employment. The government report was expected to show that the U.S. economy added more than 200,000 jobs for a sixth successive month in August.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, fell 0.06% at 85.95.
On Thursday, the U.S. is to publish the weekly report on initial jobless claims as well as data on factory orders.