Investing.com - The yen held slightly weaker in early Asia on Wednesday in a fairly light regional data day with the Kiwi in focus on jobs data that showed higher unemployment, but also gains in overall jobs under a higher participation rate, raising questions on how the Reserve Bank of New Zealand may look at the figures.
USD/JPY changed hands at 106.74, up 0.11%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7498, up 0.20%.
Jobs data from New Zealand saw the unemployment rate tick up to 5.7% in the first quarter from 5.3% previously and above the 5.5% expected, with the labor cost index for the first quarter up 1.8% year-on-year, above the 1.6% level seen.
The employment change showed a 1.2% gain quarter-on-quarter, well above the 0.7% expected with a participation rate at 69%, above the 68.6% seen.
NZD/USD traded at 0.6929, up 0.22% after the data, which outside of the rise in unemployment was viewed as upbeat.
"The sharper-than-expected rise in the New Zealand unemployment rate in the first quarter reversed half of the large decline at the end of last year and suggests that the previous improvement was more a mirage than a miracle. But the RBNZ will be more concerned to see that wage growth has continued to remain subdued," Capital Economic said in a note to clients.
The AIG Services Index for April in Australia is ahead with the previous month reading at 49.5.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 93.02.
Overnight, the dollar eased off a 16-month trough against the other major currencies on Tuesday, as the greenback began to finally recover from last week’s policy decisions by the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve, although gains were expected to remain limited.
Safe-haven demand strengthened after data earlier showed that China’s Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index ticked down to 49.4 in April from 49.7 the previous month, compared to expectations for a rise to 49.9.
The weak data added to concerns over slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
The yen also remained broadly supported after the BoJ chose on last Thursday to hold its monetary policy, defying market expectations for additional monetary easing.
The decision came a day after the Fed kept interest rates on hold last week and indicated that any future interest rate hikes would be data dependent.