Investing.com - The Japanese yen strengthened further in Asia trade on Thursday and the Australian dollar showed gains as well - with both defying data that missed expectations.
USD/JPY traded at 101.66, down 0.18%, with retail sales for April falling 4.4%, the first decline in nine months and a sharper drop than the 3.3% decline year-on-year expected.
Bank of Japan board member Sayuri Shirai repeated statements that achieving sustained 2% inflation in Japan by 2015 remains an uncertain goal.
Australia's first quarter total new capex data fell 4.2%, compared to expectations of a 1.4% drop.
AUD/USD traded at 0.9258, up 0.24%.
Overnight, the dollar firmed against most major currencies buoyed by Tuesday's batch of positive economic indicators and expectations for the European Central Bank to loosen policy.
The euro has fallen nearly 2% against the dollar since the ECB indicated at its May 8 meeting that monetary authorities would feel "comfortable" with easing monetary policy at its June 5 meeting to help shore up the region's fragile recovery.
On Tuesday, ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank was aware of the risks of persistently low inflation and was prepared to take steps to get euro zone inflation back to its target, the latest indication that the bank could loosen monetary policy next week.
The dollar, meanwhile, saw residual support stemming from Tuesday's upbeat U.S. consumer confidence, housing and pricing data, which served as a reminder that the economy continues to recover and is in less need of monetary stimulus measures.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was udown 0.06% at 80.56.
On Thursday, the U.S. is to release revised data on first-quarter GDP as well as the weekly government report on initial jobless claims and data on pending home sales.