Investing.com - The U.S. dollar hit session lows against the euro on Thursday as sentiment on the single currency improved, while the dollar turned higher against the yen ahead of next week’s Bank of Japan policy meeting.
During European morning trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.41% to 1.3340.
Sentiment towards the euro improved after a senior European Central Bank policymaker said Wednesday that the situation in the euro zone had stabilized and indicated that the bank was not concerned over the euro’s recent gains.
Elsewhere, the International Monetary Fund released Greece’s next tranche of bailout aid overnight, averting a default.
The dollar re-approached two-and-a-half-year highs against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.64% to 88.93.
The yen weakened as renewed expectations for more aggressive easing steps by the BoJ at next Tuesday’s policy meeting weighed.
The greenback edged lower against the pound, with GBP/USD inching up 0.07% to 1.6015.
Sentiment on the pound remained fragile after a recent string of weak economic data fuelled fears that the economy slipped back into a recession in the fourth quarter.
The greenback was almost unchanged against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF dipping 0.01% to 0.9309.
The greenback was broadly higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD inching up 0.10% to 0.9867, AUD/USD down 0.46% to 1.0522 and NZD/USD slipping 0.16% to 0.8399.
The Australian dollar came under pressure after official data showed that the Australian economy cut 5,500 jobs in December, disappointing expectations for a 4,500 increase, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.4% from 5.3% in November.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.15% to 79.71.
Spain was to hold auctions of government bonds maturing in in 2015, 2018 and 2041 later Thursday.
The U.S. was to produce official data on building permits and housing starts, in addition to the weekly government report on initial jobless claims and data on manufacturing activity in Philadelphia.
