The U.S. dollar slipped on Friday in Asia as markets await the key first-quarter GDP data due later in the day.
The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies was down 0.1% at 97.873 by 11:40 PM ET (03:40 GMT).
Overnight, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial jobless claims rose by 37,000 to a seasonally adjusted 230,000 for the week ended April 21, missing economists’ forecast for a rise to 199,000.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday core durable goods orders rose 0.4% last month, beating economists’ forecasts for a 0.2% rise.
Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 1.3% last month, well above expectations for a 0.1% increase.
Meanwhile, the USD/CNY pair slipped 0.1% to 6.7346.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech at the Belt and Road Forum on Friday is in focus as he spoke about the country’s current exchange rate level.
China will ensure the yuan to remain within “reasonable range” but would not pursue yuan depreciation that harm others, said Xi.
The USD/JPY pair was unchanged at 111.61.
The Bank of Japan said on Thursday that it would keep interest rates extremely low until at least 2020. The key monetary stimulus settings were also left unchanged.
The central bank noted that it mostly likely will not hit its 2% inflation target in the next three years.
The EUR/USD pair edged up 0.1% to 1.1134 as the currency recovered from earlier lows after disappointing business surveys from Germany and France.
The AUD/USD pair and the NZD/USD pair rose 0.1% and 0.2% respectively.
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