Investing.com - The Japanese yen held weaker ahead of a deluge of end of the month data Friday that will set the tone.
USD/JPY changed hands at 121.12, up 0.08%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7175, up 0.13%.
In Japan, July national CPI, the unemployment rate and household spending are all due at 0830 Tokyo time (2330 GMT).
About 20 minutes later (2350 GMT), July preliminary retail sales data are then due.
National core CPI is seen down 0.2% year-on-year in July, while unemployment is seen steady at 3.4% and retails sales up 1.1% and household spending increased 1.3%.
The U.S. dollar index rose 0.02% to 95.77.
Overnight, the U.S. dollar pared losses against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, as the release of upbeat U.S. economic reports lent broad support to the greenback.
The Commerce Department reported on Thursday that U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.7% in the three months ending June 30, above expectations for growth of 3.2%.
Preliminary data initially pegged U.S. growth at 2.3% in the second quarter. The U.S. economy expanded 0.6% in the previous quarter.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 22 declined by 6,000 to 271,000 from the previous week’s total of 277,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 3,000 to 274,000 last week.
The data came a day after New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said Wednesday that the case for a September rate hike was “less compelling”, given the threat posed to the U.S. economy from recent turmoil in markets.
Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor developments in China. Shares in Shanghai rallied around 5% by the close of trading on Thursday, snapping six days of heavy losses.
Recent steep declines in Chinese equity markets have sparked fears that they will hasten an economic downturn and undermined investor confidence in the government’s ability to revitalize economic growth.