Investing.com - The yen was quoted a tad weaker in early Asia on Thursday ahead of gross domestic product data for the third quarter with trade figures from Australia and China also on the cards.
USD/JPY changed hands at 113.80, up 0.03% and AUD/USD traded at 0.7478, down 0.03%.
In Japan, third quarter GDP is expected to show a 0.6% gain quarter-on-quarter and a 2.4% pace year-on-year. Later, Australia reports trade balance data for October with an A$800 million deficit seen. China should report its trade balance for November with a surplus of $46.30 billion seen and exports posting a decline of 5.0% and imports down 1.3%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 100.28.
Overnight, the dollar held steady against the other majors currencies on Wednesday, as investors remained cautious ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy meeting on Thursday and the highly-anticipated Federal Reserve policy decision due next week.
Markets were still recovering after Italian voters rejected on Sunday constitutional changes backed by the government and the subsequent resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
However there were indications that Italy would not hold early elections after Renzi’s resignation, with many analysts thinking it more likely that a caretaker government will be put in place until an election in 2018.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained broadly supported after Friday’s solid U.S. jobs report for November confirmed expectations for an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve this month.