Investing.com - The yen eased lightly in Asia on Thursday, taking a breather as continued risks related to global trade policies remain to favor buying the safe-haven currency.
In Asia, fourth quarter inflation in New Zealand rose 1.3% year-on-year and 0.4% quarter-on-quarter, both above expectations with NZD/USD down 0.12% to 0.7284 after the data, while Japan reported the corporate services price index up 0.4% in December as expected.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.07% to 99.84. In pairs, USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 113.31, while GBP/USD gained 0.08% to 1.2644. AUD/USD traded at 0.7572, down 0.04%.
Overnight, the dollar fell on Wednesday with concerns growing over the path of global trade under President Donald Trump after a series of steps to review or abandon multilateral trade pacts and strike bilateral deals even as U.S. share indexes reached record highs on Wednesday.
A flurry of executive actions on immigration and regulations that affect busineses by President Donald Trump helped lift the Dow Jones index above 20,000 on Wednesday.
Trump also cleared the way for two controversial pipelines on Tuesday, making it easier for TransCanada to build the Keystone XL pipeline and for Energy Transfer Partners to build the final portion of the Dakota Access pipeline.
The greenback also weakened this week after Trump said on Twitter that he would seek a "major investigation" into alleged voter fraud, focusing on two states and illegal voters. The call came despite Republican election officials in key states saying they have found no evidence of fraudulent voting.
On Tuesday, the National Association of Secretaries of State said it had confidence in the "systemic integrity of our election process" and was not aware of any evidence related to Trump's claims. The dollar has been under pressure since Trump’s inauguration last Friday amid concerns over a lack of clarity on his economic policies and fears that his protectionist trade stance could hit corporate profits and act as a drag on growth.