Investing.com - The dollar edged lower against the other major currencies on Friday, as investors remained cautious ahead of the highly-anticipated U.S. employment report due later in the day.
USD/JPY slid 0.33% to 106.91.
Investors were awaiting the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later Friday for further indications on the strength of the job market following several negative signs this week.
Payroll processing firm ADP said on Wednesday that non-farm private employment rose by 156,000 last month, missing expectations for an increase of 196,000.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 29 increased by 17,000 to 274,000 from the previous week’s total of 257,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 260,000 last week.
Meanwhile, the yen also remained under pressure after Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that his government is prepared to take action against excessive, speculative rises in the nations’ currency.
EUR/USD edged up 0.11% to 1.1417.
The dollar was steady against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD at 1.4494 and with USD/CHF at 0.9674.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 1.23% at 0.7374 and with NZD/USD dropping 0.58% to 0.6843.
Earlier Friday, the Reserve Bank of Australia said in its monthly policy statement that core inflation is unlikely to reach the bottom of its target this year.
The central bank also left estimated economic growth at 2.5% to 3.5% for 2016 and 2017 and predicted unemployment will remain around the current 5.7%.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD held steady at a three-week high of 1.2844.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.11% at 93.63.