Investing.com - The U.S. dollar held steady against the yen on Friday, hovering close to a two-month high after the Bank of Japan refrained from adding any stimulus measures and as investors awaited the highly-anticipated report on U.S. nonfarm payrolls due later in the day.
USD/JPY hit 124.84 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 124.83.
The pair was likely to find support at 123.98, the low of August 5 and resistance at 125.02, the high of August 5 and a two-month high.
In a widely expected move, the BoJ said it will keep increasing the monetary base at an annual pace of ¥80 trillion.
BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda had said last month that he didn’t think that the last quarter's weakness will continue and he reiterated that inflation will reach 2% around the six months through September 2016.
Meanwhile, the dollar remained supported ahead of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later Friday, which could reinforce expectations for higher interest rates by the Federal Reserve.
The greenback was also boosted after data on Thursday showed that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the U.S. in the week ending August 1 rose by 3,000 to 270,000 from the previous week’s total of 267,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise by 6,000 to 273,000 last week.
The yen was also steady against the euro, with EUR/JPY at 136.16.