Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose while the Japanese yen fell on Thursday following positive U.S. economic data.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies, last traded at 95.76 at 1:00AM ET (05:00 GMT), up 0.09%.
Data on Wednesday showed that U.S. service sector activity accelerated to a 21-year high in September and another report showed that private sector hiring increased at the fastest pace in seven months in September.
"A simple dynamic is playing out in the global economy right now - the U.S. is booming, while most of the rest of the world slows or even stagnates," said HSBC economist Kevin Logan.
The yield on the United States 10-Year Treasuries rose to the highest level since 2011 on the positive data.
"The (ISM) index was significantly above the long-term average during periods of growth and consistent with the upside risks to growth," said Kevin Cummins, senior U.S. economist at NatWest Markets. "At a minimum, these data suggest that labor demand remains very strong."
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in a speech in Boston on Wednesday that the economic outlook was "remarkably positive" and that rates might rise above "neutral", currently anywhere from 2.5 to 3%.
Elsewhere, the USD/JPY pair was down 0.12% at 114.41, while the Aussie dollar and the Kiwi both slid 0.3% against the dollar.
A report from Pacific Investment Management warned that Australia’s housing slump raised the possibility of debt downgrades for local big banks.
“We have grown more cautious with the external credits of Australian banks,’’ Pimco analysts and portfolio managers led by Taosha Wang said in a note to clients. “The probability of a market-moving agency downgrade that causes major banks to lose their AA- rating for the first time in history is now higher than before.’’