Investing.com - The euro held weaker in Asia on Thursday as investors looked to China's stock market and a stability loan for Greece as key touch points in a busy regional data day.
EUR/USD traded at 1.1067, down 0.09%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 120.74, up 0.03% after core machinery orders for May rose 0.6%, well above the expected drop of 5%.
Eurogroup President and European Stability Mechanism Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem sent a letter to the top euro zone economic officials asking them to assess Greece's request for a stability loan.
In China, June CPI and PPI data are due. Economists expect the National Bureau of Statistics to report a gain of 1.3% and a drop of 4.5% respectively. If confirmed, the consumer price index reading would match May's four month-low while the producer price index reading would be the lowest since February and mark a record 40 straight months of negative price growth.
In Australia, the June labour force survey is due. The survey is expected to show a fall of 5,000 jobs month-on-month after a strong 42,000 rise in May. The unemployment rate is expected to edge higher to 6.1% from 6.0% but labor participation rate is expected to remain unchanged at 64.7%.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7400, down 0.36%.
The People's Bank of China on Thursday provided liquidity to China Securities Finance Corp via relending at its request, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
The PBOC will also let the CSFC issue financial bonds, including short-term commercial paper in the interbank market, and pledged to continue to provide liquidity support to CSFC via various channels.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.02% at 96.41.
Overnight, the dollar remained broadly lower against a basket of other major currencies on Wednesday, amid fresh hopes for a solution to Greece's debt crisis after euro zone officials gave the country until Thursday to present new proposals to secure a deal with creditors.
The yen rallied as Chinese shares continued to plunge overnight, bolstering demand for safe haven assets.
Chinese shares fell sharply on Wednesday, extending a broad based selloff despite fresh regulatory measures to restore investor confidence.
The selloff has been fueled 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.
If an agreement on Greece cannot be reached in time, European Union leaders will hold an emergency summit in Brussels on Sunday to discuss how to contain the fallout from a Greek exit from the euro zone.