Investing.com - The yen turned weaker on Friday in Asia and the Aussie rebounded slightly ahead of closely-watched consumer and producer prices data from China.
Ahead, China reports CPI for September with a gain of 0.3% seen month-on-month and a 1.6% increase year-on-year. As well PPI data is expected to show a fall of 0.3% year-on-year.
Earlier in Japan, the PPI for September fell 3.2% as expected year-on-year and came in flat, compared to a 0.1% month-on-month gain seen. USD/JPY traded around 103.83.
Australia's central bank released a financial stability review that highlighted some regional risks in apartment construction.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.09% to 97.62.
Overnight, the dollar erased gains against the other major currencies on Thursday, after the release of positive U.S. jobless claims data, as investors locked in gains from the greenback’s recent rally to a seven-month peak.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending October 8 held steady at 246,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 8,000 to 254,000 last week.
The greenback had climbed broadly after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s September policy meeting released on Wednesday showed several voting members of the policy committee judged a rate hike would be warranted "relatively soon" if the U.S. economy continued to strengthen.
Safe-haven demand strengthened after data earlier showed that China’s trade surplus narrowed to $41.99 billion in September from $52.05 billion the previous month.
Analysts had expected the trade surplus to widen to $53.00 billion last month.
The weak data fueled fresh concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
The pound had found some support after British Prime Minister Theresa May was pushed into allowing Tory MPs on Tuesday to vote for a Labour motion calling for greater scrutiny of her Brexit proposals.