Investing.com - The yen strengthened on Wednesday as the Bank of Japan held steady, underscoring stable policy intentions.
The Bank of Japan board voted to keep its current monetary base target steady in an 8 to 1 vote on Wednesday, saying the economy continues in recovery mode.
The BoJ's asset purchase target is ¥80 trillion annually with board member Takahide Kiuchi dissenting again on the amount after suggesting earlier this year a level around ¥45 trillion.
There has been speculation the BoJ may be considering further easing, though the board has contended thta underlying inflation is rising and a slump in factory output is not serious enough to derail the path to a modest economic recovery and 2% inflation.
Earlier, the Aussie gained on Wednesday as construction data pointed to some green shoots on new orders and in light trade with markets shut in China.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7173, up 0.10%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 119.94, down 0.23% after the BoJ announcement.
In Australia, the AIG construction index fell to 51.9 in September from 53.8 in August. A contraction in commercial construction is disappointing but with new orders at their highest in a year the outlook for the sector appears to be positive and may offset the further decline in engineering construction.
Elsewhere in Australia the HIA new homes sales index for September fell 1.9 points to 51.9.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.05% to 95.48.
Overnight, the dollar extended losses against the other major currencies on Tuesday, as dampened expectations for a U.S. rate hike before the end of the year continued to weigh on the greenback.
The dollar remained under pressure as weak U.S. jobs data on Friday underlined fears that a slowdown in global economic growth has spread to the U.S. economy and prompted investors to push back expectations on the timing of an initial rate hike by the Federal Reserve to early 2016.
Official data released on Tuesday showed that the U.S. trade deficit widened to $48.33 billion in August from $41.81 billion in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of $41.90 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to $47.40 billion in August.