(RTTNews) - Thursday in Asia, the US dollar and the Japanese yen weakened against their major rivals as most Asian stocks recovered their early losses, reducing demand for safe-haven currencies. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which declined to 4,293 from a high of 4,340, is currently up 17.8 points or 0.4% at 4,325. The broader All Ordinaries index is up 42.30 points or 1% at 4,371.20. Japan's Nikkei 225 index, which dropped down to 9,395.3 in early trades, is currently up 67.23 points or 0.7% at 9,590. South Korea's KOSPI index, which declined to 1,565.4 in early trades, is currently up 22.73 points or 73.93% at 1,604.35. In economic news, Japan registered a merchandise trade surplus of 742.262 billion yen in April, the Ministry of Finance said today, topping forecasts for a surplus of 700.5 billion yen after the 948.9 billion yen surplus in March. Exports surged 40.4 percent on year to 5.889 trillion yen and imports were up 24.2 percent on year to 5.147 trillion yen. The yen that advanced to a 2-day high against the European majors at the beginning of the session started reversing its course shortly. The Japanese currency is currently quoted at 130.44 against the pound, down from 129.12 hit earlier in the session. The pound-yen pair that closed yesterday's deals at 129.40 is presently quoted at 130.33. The yen also declined to as low as 78.26 against the Swiss franc and 110.82 versus the euro around 12:40 am ET from 77.40 and 109.22, respectively hit earlier today. The Japanese currency that was worth 77.50 against the franc and 109.49 against the euro at Wednesday's close is presently worth 78.11 and 110.55, respectively. The yen eased after hitting a 2-day high of 90.24 against the US dollar on Thursday morning in Asia. Currently, the Japanese currency is quoted at 90.15 and this may be compared to yesterday's close of 89.93. Pulling back from its early Asian session's 2-day high, the Japanese yenslipped to as low as 84.98 against the Canadian dollar around 12:40 am ET. The yen that closed yesterday's deals at 83.99 against the Canadian dollar is currently quoted at 84.72. The Japanese yen reached a low of 60.56 against the New Zealand dollar before leveling off around 12:35 am ET. The kiwi-yen pair, which finished Wednesday's deals at 59.66, is presently quoted at 60.35. New Zealand registered a trade balance of NZ$161 million for the year ending in April 2010, Statistics NZ reported today. It was the first annual trade surplus since July 2002. For the month of April, New Zealand had a trade surplus of NZ$656 million, representing 16.5 percent of the value of exports.

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