Investing.com - The Aussie fell on Thursday after weaker than expected jobs data and the yen held nearly flat after trade showed sharper falls that seen for imports and exports with China data ahead and the latest views of the Fed on interest rates being assessed.
The Federal Reserve's January meeting provided little indication that the U.S. central could accelerate its pace of tightening in the foreseeable future.
"Many participants indicated that their assessment of the balance of risks associated with the timing of the beginning of policy normalization had inclined them toward keeping the federal funds rate at its effective lower bound for a longer time," the FOMC said in the minutes.
"Some observed that, even with these risks taken into consideration, the federal funds rate may have already been kept at its lower bound for a sufficient length of time, and that it might be appropriate to begin policy firming in the near term."
USD/JPY changed hands at 114.06, down 0.03%, while AUD/USD eased 0.55% to 0.7145.
In Japan the trade balance for January came in at ¥646 billion, near the ¥680 billion seen along with imports that fell 18%, more than the expected down 16% and exports dropped 12.9%, more than the 11.3% year-on-year seen.
In Australia, employment data fell by 7,900 jobs, off the 15,000 jobs seen added in January for an unemployment rate of 6.0%, higher than the 5.8% expected.
Then in China, CPI and PPI data is up for January with a 0.5% increase seen month-on-month for consumer prices and a year-on-year increase of 1.9%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.02% to 96.88.
Overnight, the dollar held steady against the other major currencies on Wednesday, after the release of mixed U.S. economic reports as markets turned their attention to the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting. The Federal Reserve said that industrial production increased by 0.9% last month, beating expectations for a gain of 0.4%.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts fell 3.8% to hit 1.099 million units last month from December’s total of 1.143 million units. Analysts had expected a rise 2.5% to 1.170 million.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued declined 0.2% to 1.202 million units from 1.204 million. Economists had forecast a drop of 0.1% to 1.200 million units in January. A separate report showed that U.S. producer prices inched up 0.1% last month, though the forecast was for a drop of 0.2% and after a 0.2% decline in December.
Year-over-year, the producer price index declined 0.2%, compared to expectations for a 0.2% fall. The core producer price index moved up by 0.4% in January, above forecasts for a gain of 0.1%.