Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged against the yen on Thursday, after a flurry of relatively positive U.S. data while markets remained focused on Greece bailout talks.
USD/JPY hit 76.78 during European afternoon trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 76.85, easing up 0.03%.
The pair was likely to find support at 76.64, the low of January 18 and resistance at 77.00, the high of January 9.
Official data showed earlier that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week declined unexpectedly, falling to the lowest level since April 2008.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending January 13 fell to 352,000 from 402,000 the previous week. Analysts had expected U.S. jobless claims to fall to 385,000 last week.
Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in ten of the past twelve weeks.
The data came after reports showing that the number of building permits issued in the U.S. was unchanged at 0.68 million in December, holding steady near the highest level since March 2010, while housing starts rose less-than-expected by 0.66 million after a 0.69 million increase in November.
Data also showed that core consumer price inflation rose 0.1% in December, in line with expectations after a 0.2% rise the previous month, while consumer price inflation was flat in December, confounding expectations for a 0.1% rise.
Elsewhere, talks between Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the country’s creditors continued for a second day, after breaking down last week amid disagreements over how much money investors will lose by swapping their bonds.
Greece needs to secure an agreement on restructuring its debt in order to access new bailout funds and avert a default when an EUR14.4 billion bond redemption comes due on March 20.
Sentiment slightly improved earlier after well-received auctions of Spanish and French government debt.
The yen was lower against the euro with EUR/JPY adding 0.35%, to hit 99.18.
Later in the day, the U.S. was also to release data on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area.
USD/JPY hit 76.78 during European afternoon trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 76.85, easing up 0.03%.
The pair was likely to find support at 76.64, the low of January 18 and resistance at 77.00, the high of January 9.
Official data showed earlier that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week declined unexpectedly, falling to the lowest level since April 2008.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending January 13 fell to 352,000 from 402,000 the previous week. Analysts had expected U.S. jobless claims to fall to 385,000 last week.
Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in ten of the past twelve weeks.
The data came after reports showing that the number of building permits issued in the U.S. was unchanged at 0.68 million in December, holding steady near the highest level since March 2010, while housing starts rose less-than-expected by 0.66 million after a 0.69 million increase in November.
Data also showed that core consumer price inflation rose 0.1% in December, in line with expectations after a 0.2% rise the previous month, while consumer price inflation was flat in December, confounding expectations for a 0.1% rise.
Elsewhere, talks between Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the country’s creditors continued for a second day, after breaking down last week amid disagreements over how much money investors will lose by swapping their bonds.
Greece needs to secure an agreement on restructuring its debt in order to access new bailout funds and avert a default when an EUR14.4 billion bond redemption comes due on March 20.
Sentiment slightly improved earlier after well-received auctions of Spanish and French government debt.
The yen was lower against the euro with EUR/JPY adding 0.35%, to hit 99.18.
Later in the day, the U.S. was also to release data on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area.