Investing.com - The dollar slipped lower against the yen on Wednesday as data pointing to weak business sentiment in Japan pressured equities lower, shoring up demand for the safe-have yen.
USD/JPY touched lows of 119.42 and was last down 0.2% to 119.88, off Tuesday’s one-and-a-half week highs of 120.35.
The Bank of Japan's tankan business sentiment survey showed that sentiment among Japan's large manufacturers held steady in the first quarter but is expected to deteriorate in the current quarter.
Japan’s Nikkei ended the session down 0.9% following the report, lending support to the yen.
Stronger-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data also dented demand for the dollar.
Official data showed that China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index edged up to 50.1 in March from 49.9 in February. Economists had expected the index to tick down to 49.7.
EUR/USD was up 0.41% to 1.0775, off Tuesday’s lows of 1.0712.
The euro looked likely to remain under pressure as uncertainty over Greece continued to weigh. Athens will run out of cash later this month unless it can reach a compromise with its creditors on a program of economic reforms in time to unlock more bailout funds.
Investors were turning their attention to the latest U.S. jobs report, due out on Friday, which was expected to support expectations for higher interest rates.
The U.S. was to release the ADP report on private sector jobs growth later in the day.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, eased 0.2% to 98.49.