Investing.com - The yen gained smartly as debate about the direction of Bank of Japan monetary policy grows among the nine board members, according to minutes of the January meeting released on Friday.
USD/JPY changed hands at 110.90, down 0.44%, as investors see further measures to ease as unlikely after the discussion highlighted in the minutes. AUD/USD traded at 0.7672, up 0.31%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.09% at 94.68.
Overnight, the dollar remained at five-month lows against the other major currencies on Thursday, despite the release of positive U.S. data as the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision continued to weigh on the greenback.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 12 increased by 7,000 to 265,000 from the previous week’s total of 258,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 10,000 to 268,000 last week.
In addition, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index improved to 12.4 this month from February's reading of -2.8. Analysts had expected the index to improve only to -1.7 in February.
The dollar remained under pressure after the Fed left its monetary policy unchanged on Wednesday and said that it is likely to raise interest rates twice this year – and not four times, as initially estimated.