Investing.com - The yen weakened further in Asia on Thursday with retail sales in Japan disappointing and as investors digested a curb on output agreed to by OPEC members and mulled chances of a Fed rate hike in November as at least two FOMC voters urging the course.
USD/JPY changed hands at 10.35, up 0.66%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7704, up 0.16%. Retail sales in Japan fell 2.1% for August year-on-year, compared to a 1.8% decline seen.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.05% to 95.36.
Capping a day of policymaker views, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George repeated views that a rate hike is needed, noting she voted for an interest rate hike in September as the need to gradually normalize policy grows and could lead to interest rates getting hiked too quickly later.
OPEC surprised markets Wednesday and agreed to production curbs under a formula to cut output to a range of 32.5 million to 33 million barrels of oil per day from 33.4 million.
Overnight, the dollar edged back up against the other major currencies on Wednesday, after positive U.S. data on durable goods orders, although investors remained cautious over the outcome of a meeting between major oil producers.
The U.S. Commerce Department said that durable goods orders remained unchanged last month, compared to expectations for a 1.4% decline. July’s orders were revised down to show an increase of 3.6% from a previously reported 4.4% gain.
Core durable goods orders, which exclude volatile transportation items, dropped 0.4% last month, in line with forecasts.
The Investing.com Fed Rate Monitor Tool shows the market sees a 10.3% chance of a rate hike in November.