Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged against the yen on Friday, after mixed economic reports from Japan and as optimism sparked by Thursday's upbeat U.S. jobless claims data began to subside.
USD/JPY hit 119.41 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 119.24.
The pair was likely to find support at 118.30, Thursday's low and resistance at 119.84, the high of March 25.
Official data earlier showed that Japan's household spending rose 0.8% in February, exceeding expectations for a 0.5% gain, after a 0.3% fall the previous month.
A separate report showed that consumer price inflation in Japan rose at an annualized rate of 2.0% in February, compared to expectations for 2.1% and down from 2.2% in January.
Data also showed that Japan's retail sales dropped at an annualized rate of 1.8% last month, confounding expectations for a 1.5% decline, after a 2.0% drop in January.
The dollar had found broad support on Thursday after data showing that the number of people filing unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell to a five-week low sparked optimism over the strength of the job market.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 21 declined by 9,000 to 282,000 from the previous week’s total of 291,000.
Another report showed that the U.S. service sector expanded at the fastest rate this month since September.
The yen was also steady against the euro, with EUR/JPY at 129.67.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release final data on fourth quarter economic growth and the revised reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.