Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose to fresh seven-year highs against the yen on Friday, as demand for the greenback strengthened ahead of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later in the day, while the yen remained under broad selling pressure.
USD/JPY hit 120.69 during early European afternoon trade, the pair's highest since July 2007; the pair subsequently consolidated at 120.63, climbing 0.70%.
The pair was likely to find support at 119.09, the low of December 3 and resistance at 123.66.
Market participants were eyeing the closely watched government report on U.S. nonfarm payrolls due later in the day for further indications on the strength of the country's job market after data on Thursday showed that U.S. jobless claims declined last week.
The Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 29 decreased by 17,000 to 297,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 314,000.
Meanwhile, the yen remained under pressure after Japanese media outlets reported on Thursday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition government could retain its majority in the lower house of parliament in elections due to be held on December 14.
Abe dissolved parliament earlier this month, clearing the way for elections to seek a fresh mandate for his economic policies, which call for a weaker yen. The decision came after Japan’s economy unexpectedly fell into recession in the third quarter.
The yen has weakened since the Bank of Japan unexpectedly expanded its stimulus program in late October. In contrast, the Federal Reserve wound up its asset purchase program in October and is expected to start raising interest rates around September 2015.
The yen was also lower against the euro, with EUR/JPY gaining 0.43% to 148.93.