Forex - Yen stronger after trade data shows solid boost in Jan exports

Investing.com - The yen held slightly stronger in Asia on Thursday after better than expected export figures and a mildly dovish Federal Reserve minutes release, with many markets shut for the Lunar New Year holidays.

USD/JPY traded at 118.75, down 0.03%, while AUD/USD changed hands at 0.7811, up 0.01% and EUR/USD traded at 1.1403, down 0.06%.

Japan's January trade deficit came in at ¥1.178 trillion, more than the ¥1.691 expected.

Exports however rose 17%, well above the 11.9% seen as as the U.S. economic recovery supported demand for automobiles while Asian economies continued to import semiconductors and plastics from Japan. Imports fell 9.0%, more than the 4.8% drop expected on weak oil prices.

Overnight, the dollar remained broadly higher against the other major currencies on Wednesday, despite the release of weak U.S. economic reports.

Minutes from a Fed policymakers meeting last month and released on Wednesday expressed concern that raising interest rates too soon could pour cold water on the U.S. economic recovery, according to minutes from the Fed's Jan. 27-28 meeting.

The Federal Reserve in a separate report said that U.S. industrial production increased by 0.2% last month, below expectations for a gain of 0.3%.

The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, held steady at 79.4% in January, compared to expectations for a reading of 79.9%.

Earlier Wednesday, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. producer prices fell by 0.8% last month, compared to forecasts for a 0.4% decline, while core producer prices eased down by 0.1% last month, compared to forecasts for a gain of 0.1%.

In a separate report, the Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued last month decreased by 0.7% to1.053 million units from December’s total of 1.060 million. Analysts expected building permits to rise by 0.8% to 1.069 million units in January.

The report also showed that U.S. housing starts declined by 2.0% last month to hit 1.065 million units from December’s total of 1.087 million units, worse than expectations for a decline of 1.7% to 1.070 million.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.05% to 94.18.

Market participants remained optimistic that a new deal on Greece’s international bailout could be reached, despite a standoff between Athens and European officials after talks broke down on Monday.