Investing.com - The Japanese yen was steady to slightly weaker in Asia on Thursday with the focus on release of last month's central bank board meeting minutes.
USD/JPY traded at 114.68, up 0.01%, while AUD/USD changed hands at 0.8578, down 0.20%.
The Bank of Japan minutes of its Oct. 6-7 policy board meeting are due at 0850 Tokyo time (2350 GMT). At that meeting, the BOJ board unanimously to leave the policy target unchanged.
In Australia, the October labor force survey is due at 1130 Sydney time (0030 GMT) with a gain of 10,300 jobs seen and an unemloyment rate stable at 6.1% expected.
Overnight, industry data revealing that more private-sector hiring took place last month than investors were expecting gave the dollar a boost over most of its peers on Wednesday.
Payroll processing firm ADP reported earlier that non-farm private employment rose by 230,000 last month, beating expectations for an increase of 220,000.
The economy created 225,000 jobs in September, whose figure was upwardly revised from a previously reported 213,000.
While not always as a reliable predecessor for the government's official jobs report, the latest due out on Friday, Nov. 7, the ADP report does offer guidance on private-sector hiring, and Wednesday's report offset data revealing that service-sector activity in the U.S. grew at its slowest rate in four months in October.
The Institute of Supply Management reported earlier that its non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 57.1 in October from a 58.6 in September. Analysts had expected the index to inch down to 58.0 in October.
The Non-Manufacturing Business Activity Index decreased to 60.0 from September's 62.9 reading.
The New Orders Index fell to 59.1 from September's 61.0 reading.
The Employment Index increased 1.1 points to 59.6 from the September reading of 58.5 and indicates growth for the eighth consecutive month, which supported the greenback as well.
On the index, a reading above 50.0 indicates the non-manufacturing sector economy is generally expanding, below 50.0 indicates the sector is contracting.
According to the report, 16 non-manufacturing industries reported growth in October.
The euro, meanwhile, held lower as investors awaited the European Central Bank's latest decision on interest rates and monetary policy this Thursday.
The ECB was widely expected to keep monetary policy unchanged, but the Bank of Japan’s surprise stimulus move on Friday fueled expectations that it will soon follow suit in order to spur growth and inflation in the euro area.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, fell 0.01% at 87.52.