Investing.com - The yen weakened in Asia on Friday as investors looked ahead to a two-day G-20 summit in China at the weekend for comments on the global economy and awaited nonfarm payrolls data, a key economic indicator for Fed decision-making on interest rates.
USD/JPY changed hands at 103.34, up 0.12%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7558, up 0.08%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.02% to 95.64.
Overnight, the dollar turned lower against the other major currencies on Thursday, after data showed that U.S. manufacturing activity fell to a seven-month low in August and as investors turned their attention to Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls data.
The Institute for Supply Management said its index of manufacturing activity dropped to 49.4 last month from July’s reading of 52.6. It was the worst reading since January and missed expectations for a slight drop to 52.0.
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 27 increased by 2,000 to 263,000 from the previous week’s total of 261,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000 to 265,000 last week.
Market participants were now eyeing Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report for further indications on the strength of the job market after Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley
Fischer said earlier in the week that the U.S. labor market is almost at full strength and that the pace of interest rate increases will be data dependent. According to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, investors are pricing in a 24% chance of a rate hike by September.