Forex - Dollar gains slightly in Asia with quiet session expected

Investing.com - The dollar gained slightly against the yen in Asia early Friday with a quiet session expected with no data and after a rough week dominated by choppy yen and Aussie moves.

USD/JPY traded at 115.81, up 0.03%, while AUD/USD changed hands at 0.8713, up 0.05%.

Overnight, the dollar traded mixed against its peers on Thursday after data revealed more in the U.S. sought first-time joblessness assistance last week than investors were expecting, which put a halt to the greenback's recent rally.

The Labor Department reported earlier that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending Nov. 8 rose by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 290,000 from the previous week’s total of 278,000.

Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000, and the numbers gave investors reason to sell the greenback for profits.

The dollar has surged in recent weeks as investors prepare for U.S. monetary policy to grow less accommodative while Europe and Asia move in the opposite direction to kick-start their recoveries.

The European Central Bank last September cut rates and announced fresh stimulus measures including asset purchases to steer its economy away from deflationary decline.

Elsewhere in Europe, official data showed that Germany's inflation rate rose 0.8% on-year in October and fell 0.3% from a month earlier, both figures in line with expectations.

A separate report showed that the annual rate of inflation in France, the euro area’s second largest economy, rose to 0.5% last month, up from 0.3% in September and ahead of forecasts for 0.4%.

On a month-over-month basis prices were flat.

In Spain, data showed that the consumer price index fell 0.1% in October from a year earlier, continuing a period of price declines. On a monthly basis, consumer prices ticked up 0.5% from 0.2% in September.

The overall data underlined concerns over persistently soft inflation levels in the euro area. The European Central Bank targets an inflation rate of close to, but just below 2%, though the euro rose on demand from investors selling the greenback for profits.

The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.01% at 87.72.

On Friday, expect markets to move on U.S. retail sales data and the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.