Forex - Yen down as Fed signals "solid" growth, Japan retail sales slow

Investing. com - The yen weakened and the Australian dollar gained in early Asia Thursday in mixed moves after the Federal Reserve said overnight the U.S. economy was expanding "at a solid pace" as it largely looked through weakness overseas in a signal that it remains on track to raise interest rates later this year.

The U.S. central bank repeated it would be "patient" in deciding when to raise benchmark borrowing costs from zero, where they have been stuck since late-2008.

USD/JPY traded at 117.74, up 0.16%, while AUD/USD changed hands at 0.7899, up 0.15% after data sets in both countries.

In Japan, December retail sales rose 0.2% year-on-year, compared to a gain of 0.9% expected.

In Sydney (0030 GMT), the fourth quarter import price index rose 0.9%, while the export price index fell 1.0%. The data were expected to show a 1.5% increase in import prices and a flat level for export prices.

Earlier, the New Zealand central bank held the overnight cash rate stead at 3.5% on Thursday, moving to a neutral monetary stance on an assessment that inflation will remain subdued .

"In the current circumstances, we expect to keep the OCR on hold for some time. Future interest rate adjustments, either up or down, will depend on the emerging flow of economic data," said Governor Graeme Wheeler in a statement.

NNZD/USD traded at 0.7342, up 0.372%, after the statement.

Also in New Zealand, December trade data showed a deficit of NZ$159 million month-on-month, wider thana deficit of NZ$27 million expected.

Overnight, the Federal Reserve said it would be "patient" on raising rates as they looked past the urgent moves made by other central banks this month to boost their struggling economies.

Markets were still jittery amid concerns over Syriza’s pledge to renegotiate the terms of Greece's €240 billion international bailout, which could cause the country to leave the euro zone.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.04% at 94.85.