Investing.com - The yen gained slightly in Asia on Thursday in a fairly busy regional data day on trade figures with China expected to set the tone.
Japan reports the adjusted current account with a surplus of ¥1.59 trillion seen and an un-adjusted current account surplus of ¥2.09 trillion. Also in Japan, bank lending for August is seen up 2.0% year-on-year.
At the same time second quarter GDP is seen flat quarter-on-quarter and at a 0.2% pace year-on-year.
USD/JPY changed hands at 101.69, down 0.06%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7674, up 0.01%.
Later Australia releases trade data with a deficit of A$2.75 billion seen for July. The figures are followed with China expected to report a trade balance surplus of $58.00 billion for August with exports seen down 4.0% year-on-year and imports decline 4.9%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 94.95.
Ahead, the European Central Bank will outline views on further stimulus at the bank's policy meeting on Thursday as growth and inflation remain weak despite efforts to date.
Overnight, the dollar remained moderately higher against the other major currencies on Wednesday, but gains were still limited as the previous session’s downbeat U.S. data lowered expectations for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve this year.
Sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable after the Institute of Supply Management said on Tuesday that its non-manufacturing purchasing manager's index fell to 51.4 last month from 55.5 in July. Analysts had expected the index to drop to 55.0.
The data came after downbeat U.S. employment data published last Friday crushed expectations for an upcoming rate hike by the Fed. According to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, expectations of a Fed rate hike this month slipped to 15% from levels above 20% before U.S. jobs data last week.