Investing.com - The dollar regained ground against the yen and the euro on Friday, after the People's Bank of China set a higher yuan guidance rate for the first time in nine days.
USD/JPY gained 0.68% to 118.47, off the previous session’s four-month low of 116.45.
The PBOC strengthened the yuan's midpoint rate for the first time in nine days on Friday, fixing it at 6.5636 per dollar, compared with the previous fix of 6.5646.
However, China was expected to continue allowing the yuan to weaken in the longer term in a bid to help its exporters and remain competitive against its regional rivals.
The greenback had weakened broadly against safe-haven currencies after Wednesday’s largest daily drop in the yuan midpoint rate since last August, when an unexpected almost 2% devaluation of the currency sparked a broad based selloff in markets.
EUR/USD declined 0.69% to trade at 1.0856.
Investors were now eyeing the release of key U.S. employment data due later in the day for further indications on the strength of the country’s job market.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending January 1 decreased by 10,000 to 277,000 from the previous week’s total of 287,000, which was the highest since mid-July.
Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 12,000 to 275,000 last week.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.54% at 98.84.