Investing.com - The dollar gained against the yen in early Asia on Thursday after the Fed as expected hiked interest rates with regional focus on the Bank of Japan policy review and Australia jobs data.
The BoJ will release its latest policy views around noon Japan time, while Australia is expected to post a gain of 16,000 in employment change figures for February for a steady unemployment rate of 5.7%.
USD/JPY changed hands at 113.45, up 0.05%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7700, down 0.13%. GBP/USD traded at 1.2287, down 0.04%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 100.36.
The market also noted a widely expected fed rate hike of 0.25% on Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC), which marked the highest Fed Funds rate since October 2008, with up to three increases seen this year.
"The Committee expects that economic conditions will evolve in a manner that will warrant gradual increases in the federal funds rate; the federal funds rate is likely to remain, for some time, below levels that are expected to prevail in the longer run. However, the actual path of the federal funds rate will depend on the economic outlook as informed by incoming data," the latest statement said.
Overnight, the dollar nosedived more than 1%, after the Federal Reserve increased interest rates by 0.25% a 0.75-1% range.
The greenback added to losses and last traded at 100.47 down 1.13%, after Fed Chair Janet Yellen fielded a raft of questions concerning the Fed’s decision to raise rates; future monetary policy decisions and the current as well as future prospects of the U.S. economy.
Yellen struck a somewhat dovish tone, as she said the US central bank would continue to provide accommodative monetary policy to support the US economy but warned against a prolonged period of lower rates in order to avoid a situation which forces the Fed to “raise rates rapidly”.