Investing.com - The Japanese yen weakened slightly more on Friday on a mixed data set of household spending, consumer prices and unemployment with tension between Russia and Turkey a backdrop.
USD/JPY changed hands at 122.64, up 0.06%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7217, down 0.13%.
In Japan, household spending for October slumped 2.4%, widely missing the 0.1% year-on-year gain seen and down 0.7% month-on-month, compared to an expected 1.1% gain.
Closely watched national core consumer prices fell the expected 0.1% year-on-year for October, but the unemployment rate dropped to 3.1% from an expected 3.4%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.04% at 99,87.
Overnight, the U.S. dollar edged higher against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, hovering close to a two-month peak as expectations for a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve continued to support the greenback.
The greenback remained broadly supported after a string of upbeat U.S. data on Wednesday added to expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that new home sales rose by 10.7% to 495,000 units last month, compared to expectations for a gain of 6.0% to 500,000.
The report came shortly after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 21 declined by 12,000 to 260,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 272,000.
Data also showed that U.S. durable goods orders jumped by 3.0% last month, easily surpassing forecasts for 1.5%, while core durable goods orders, which exclude volatile transportation items, rose 0.5% in October, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.3%.