Forex - Yen stronger after Bank of Japan holds policy steady

Investing.com - The Japanese yen strengthened on Friday after the central bank kept monetary policy steady as expected.

USD/JPY changed hands at 120.85, down 0.16%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7912, up 0.23%, and EUR/USD was quoted at 1.1131, up 0.17%.

The Bank of Japan board on Friday voted as expected to keep monetary policy steady, with Takahide Kiuchi repeating his call for a lower bond buying target in a singular note of dissent.

Kiuchi wants the BoJ to cut the level of purchases from ¥80 trillion annually set in October last year to about ¥45 trillion. The board however did say that private consumption domestically has been resilient and exports are picking up, though downside risks remain from weak growth in Europe.

BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda holds a news conference at 1530 (0630 GMT) to explain the board's decision.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.15% to 95.32.

Overnight, the dollar remained broadly lower against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, as a string of downbeat U.S. data added to concerns over the strength of the economy.

In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending May 16 rose by 10,000 to 274,000 from the previous week's total of 264,000.

Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise by 7,000 to 271,000 last week.

Separately, the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales fell 3.3% in April to 5.04 million units from the previous month's revised total of 5.21 million units. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 1.0% to 5.24 million units last month.

In addition, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index declined to 6.7 this month from a reading of 7.5 in April, confounding expectations for a rise to 8.0.

The data came after Wednesday’s minutes of the Fed’s April meeting did little to alter expectations that the central bank will hold off on raising rates until later this year, with most officials believing that a June rate hike would be premature.

Investors were turning their attention to Friday’s U.S. inflation data and a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen for fresh indications on how the economy is performing.