Investing.com - The Aussie and yen held weaker in Asia on Friday as markets look ahead to U.S. nonfarm payrolls to assess whether the Federal Reserve will hike rates this month with little reaction to regional data.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7331, down 0.19%, while AUD/USD changed hands at 122.62, up 0.04%.
In Australia, retail sales for October gained 0.5% as expected month-on-month.
In Japan, average cash earnings for October rose a health 0.7%, the fourth straight rise, and beating the year-on-year 0.4% gain seen.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.24% to 98.05.
Overnight, the dollar remained broadly lower against the other major currencies on Thursday, after measures unveiled by the European Central Bank sent the euro sharply higher and as downbeat U.S. data dampened demand for the greenback. ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank will expand its bond-buying purchase scheme beyond the current cut-off point of September 2016 until the end of March 2017, or beyond if necessary.
The ECB extended the range of assets that are eligible for purchase and will now also buy regional and local government debt and will reinvest the proceeds from quantitative easing as bonds mature.
The pace of the QE program is to remain unchanged at €60 billion, disappointing expectations that the central bank would speed up its bond-buying scheme.
Earlier Thursday, the ECB's governing council lowered the deposit facility rate to -0.3% from -0.20%, in line with market expectations.
The ECB's main refinancing rate was left unchanged at a record-low 0.05%, in line with market expectations.
In the U.S., the Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing manager's index fell to six-month low of 55.9 last month from 59.1 in October, missing forecasts for a reading of 58.0.
The data came shortly after the Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 28 increased by 9,000 to 269,000 from the previous week’s total of 260,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 8,000 last week.