On Thursday the euro touched a high of nearly five months against the
yen in Asia trade as the single currency reversed the losing course against other currencies
following revisions to the eurozone’s inflation forecasts.
Investors were unwilling to make major moves ahead of U.S. jobs data scheduled for release Friday, thus the dollar rose slightly with gains capped.
The euro rose to 140.37 yen, its highest since Jan. 13, before
weakening to 140.050, compared with 140.020 in late New York trading.
EUR/USD was last at 1.1267 from 1.1275, after hitting a
two-week high of 1.1285 overnight.
The dollar was at 124.33, compared with ¥124.24, and well off its Wednesday mark of ¥125.07, its highest since December 2002.
Positive inflation forecasts and remarks by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi that markets should get used to volatility gave a boost to the euro overnight, spurring a selloff in German bonds.
According to analysts, the rise in the common currency against the yen was largely down to position adjustments following the overnight gains.
The Australian dollar was weaker following soft economic data released in the morning.
Trade deficit in the country more than tripled in April as the value of resource exports fell steeply, while the nation’s retail sales were unchanged in April from March, a worse result than the 0.3% increase economists were expecting.
Following the data, the Australian dollar dropped to as low as $0.7709 and ¥95.98, respectively from $0.7773 and ¥96.68.
