Investing.com - The U.S. dollar moved marginally lower against the Japanese yen in Asian trade Thursday, following a lackluster performance overnight on Wall Street and U.S. data showing higher inflationary trends than expected.
In early Asian trade USD/JPY hit 76.68, the pair’s highest since Wednesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 76.58, easing 0.03%.
The pair was likely to find support at 76.41, Wednesday’s low, and resistance at 77.08, Monday’s high.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that its producer price inflation index rose by 0.2% in July, after a 0.4% decline the previous month. Market expectations were for a July increase of 0.1%.
The core PPI, which excludes food and energy costs, increased by 0.4% in July.
By the end of Wednesday trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.04%, to finish at 11,410. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.47% to 2,511, and the S&P 500 eased up 0.09% to 1,194.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Ministry of Finance reported that the nation’s trade surplus hit USD947.9 million, as Japanese exports fell 3.3% in July while imports were up 9.9% during the same period.
The Finance Ministry release followed Tuesday’s report that the Japan’s gross domestic product shrank by 0.3% in the quarter ending June.
Economists had forecast that Japan’s GDP would contract by twice much at 0.6%, due to the lingering effects of the March 11 earthquake and tsunamis.
Japanese officials have been hoping that a surge in exports could help stimulate growth in the wake of the earthquake, bu a persistently high yen has stifled export expansion.
Meanwhile the yen moved higher against both the euro and the British pound with EUR/JPY down 0.27% to hit 110.19, and GBP/JPY falling 0.28% to hit 126.35.
Market eyes were expected to focus on U.S. labor data and consumer price index numbers due out Thursday.