Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose against the yen on Thursday, pulling away from the previous session's one-and-a-half month lows as Chinese shares closed sharply higher, easing demand for safe haven assets.
USD/JPY hit 121.58 during U.S. morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 121.39, gaining 0.48%.
The pair was likely to find support at 120.37, Wednesday's low and resistance at 122.58, Wednesday's high.
Chinese shares had plummeted on Wednesday, extending a broad based selloff despite fresh regulatory measures to restore investor confidence.
The selloff was fuelled by concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy and exacerbated by worries over risks to financial stability from the turmoil in the market.
In the U.S., the Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 4 increased by 15,000 to 297,000 from the previous week’s total of 282,000. Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 7,000 to 275,000 last week.
The dollar had briefly weakened earlier, after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's June policy meeting released on Wednesday showed that policy makers need to see more signs of a strengthening U.S. economy before raising interest rates.
The minutes also pointed to concerns over Greece's financial problems, signaling that global market turmoil could derail the Fed's rate hike plans if contagion spreads.
Meanwhile, investors remained cautious after Greece requested a new three-year bailout from its euro zone creditors and pledged some economic overhauls on Wednesday.
Whether European leaders accept Greece's request for more emergency loans at a crisis summit on Sunday will depend on whether Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras makes a drastic turnaround on pension cuts, tax increases and other austerity measures after five months of negotiations.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said that "the actual examination can only begin once the full package has been put on the table."
The yen was also lower against the euro, with EUR/JPY rising 0.30% to 134.10.