Investing.com - The dollar was hovering near four-and-a-half year highs against the yen on Thursday after stronger than expected first quarter growth data from Japan, while the euro was trading close to six-week lows. During European late morning trade, the dollar gained ground against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.37% to 102.61. Japan’s economy expanded by 0.9% in the first quarter, the Cabinet Office said, outstripping expectations for 0.7% growth, bringing the annualized rate of growth to 3.5%. The data indicated that Japan’s new monetary easing measures are bolstering consumer spending, while Japanese exports were boosted by the weaker yen. Investors were looking ahead to a series of U.S. data releases later in the day, including data on jobless claims, housing starts and consumer inflation amid ongoing speculation over a possible near-term exit from the Federal Reserve’s asset purchase program. The euro was hovering near six-week lows against the dollar, with EUR/USD down 0.17% to 1.2864. In the euro zone, official data confirmed that consumer price inflation fell 0.1% in April from the previous month, with the annual rate of inflation slowing to 1.2% from 1.7% in March. A separate report showed that the euro zone posted a record trade surplus in March as imports fell 1% from February, while exports grew 2.8%. On Wednesday, data showed that the euro zone economy contracted by 0.2% in the three months to March bringing the annualized rate of decline to 0.9%. The dollar was higher against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD falling 0.16% to 1.5210 and USD/CHF rising 0.28% to trade at 0.9674. The greenback was sharply higher against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD dropping 0.96% to 0.9801, NZD/USD tumbling 1.10% to 0.8147 and USD/CAD climbing 0.33% to 1.0190. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.17% to 84.04.

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