Investing.com - The yen held weaker after Japanese data on consumer prices, household spending and industrial production with the focus now shifting in Asia on Friday to the Caixin manufacturing PMI from China.
USD/JPY changed hands at 101.22, up 0.19%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7621, down 0.18%.
Ahead in Australia, HIA new home sales for September are due month-on-month, with a fall of 9.7% the previous month and housing credit is slated for August after a 0.5% gain the previous month as well as private sector credit seen up 0.5% in August month-on-month.
Then comes the Caixin manufacturing PMI for September ahead of holidays in China next week with a 50.1 level expected, nudging up from 50.0 the previous month.
Earlier in Japan, a busy day with household spending for August down a sharp 3.7%, compared to a drop of 1.0% seen month-on-month and a decline of 4.6% year-on-year, more than the 2.5% fall seen. It was the 11th fall in the past 12 months. As Thursday's retail sales data showed, spending slowed in August, when typhoon weather kept shoppers away and there was one less weekend compared to a year before. As well, the seasonally adjusted average unemployment rate in August edged up from the previous month to 3.1% but was still close to a 21-year low of 3.0% in July.
As well, national core CPI for August fell 0.5%, more than the expected 0.4% decline year-on-year, the sixth straight drop, matching July's pace. Retailers are cautious about raising prices in broad sectors after last year's price hikes amidst the uncertainty over global and domestic growth. And national CPI dipped 0.5% for August as expected.
Industrial production in Japan for August rose 1.5% provisionally, handily beating an expected gain of 0.5%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.07% to 95.50.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, Fed Governor Jerome Powell, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Kansas City Fed President Esther George are all scheduled to speak during the day.
There is also an appearance by Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who is due to speak via video conference at the Minority Bankers Forum in Kansas City at 4:00PM ET (20:00GMT).
Yellen told Congress on Wednesday that the central bank does not have a "fixed timetable" for modifying its monetary policy. However, she added that continued job creation at its current pace would cause the economy to overheat and, in that case, the Fed could be forced to raise rates faster than expected.
Markets are currently pricing in around a 52% chance of a rate hike at December's meeting, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Overnight, the dollar trimmed gains against the other major currencies on Thursday, after the release of weak U.S. pending home sales data dampened optimism sparked by strong U.S. economic reports released earlier in the day.
The U.S. National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index fell 2.4% last month, missing expectations for an increase of 0.3%. The index reading at 108.5 is the second lowest this year after January’s 105.4.
Official data earlier showed that the third estimate of U.S. second quarter gross domestic product showed growth of 1.4%, revised from the previous reading of a 1.1% expansion. Analysts had expected a growth rate of 1.3%.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims in the week ending September 24 increased by 3,000 to 254,000 from the previous week’s total of 251,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 9,000 to 260,000 last week.
Demand for the safe-haven yen weakened after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said it agreed to reduce output to a range of 32.5-33.0 million barrels per day, a reduction of 0.7-2.2% from OPEC estimates of its current output at 33.24 million bpd. It was the first such deal since 2008.
However, the enthusiasm sparked by the deal was short-lived due to skepticism among analysts regarding the limited details of the agreement.
The Japanese currency was also under pressure after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda earlier said that the central bank will pursue the most appropriate yield curve to achieve its 2% inflation target. He added that the BoJ is ready to ease policy further by cutting its short and long-term interest rate targets or by expanding asset purchases.