Investing.com - The yen gave back early gains against the dollar on Monday, edging lower after initially rising following some disappointing Chinese economic reports over the weekend.
USD/JPY was last at 108.73 after touching lows of 108.62 in early trade.
China’s factory output slowed to 6% in April, official data showed, against expectations of 6.5%.
Investment and retail sales also grew more slowly than expected last month, adding to concerns over a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.
In Japan, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga on Monday denied weekend media reports that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to delay a sales tax hike scheduled for next year.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 94.56, not far from Friday’s highs of 94.84, the strongest level since late April.
The dollar strengthened on Friday as stronger-than-expected reports on U.S. retail sales and consumer sentiment soothed investor concerns over the strength of the economy.
The Commerce Department reported that retail sales jumped 1.3% in April, the largest monthly increase since March 2015.
The robust data also rekindled expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than anticipated.
EUR/USD was at 1.1321, not far from the two-week lows of 1.1282 set on Friday.
The euro pushed higher against the yen, with EUR/JPY easing up 0.16% to 123.05.
The Australian dollar moved higher, with AUD/USD rising 0.22% to 0.7289, after falling to two-and-a-half month lows of 0.7269 overnight.