Investing.com - The dollar trimmed back losses against the yen on Thursday after reports showed that U.S. jobless claims fell last week, and U.S. consumer prices rose broadly in line with forecasts in January.
USD/JPY was last down 0.16% to 102.14, having fallen as low as 101.65 earlier in the session.
The pair was likely to find support at 101.50 and resistance at 102.45, Wednesday’s high.
The dollar found support after the Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell by 3,000 to 336,000, slightly below expectations for a decline of 4,000.
In a separate report, the Labor Department said U.S. consumer prices rose 1.6% on a year-over-year basis in January, in line with forecasts. Consumer prices were 0.1% higher from a month earlier, also matching forecasts.
Core consumer prices, which strip out food and energy costs, were also up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis and 0.1% from the previous month.
The data came after Wednesday’s minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January meeting indicated that that the current pace of its decrease in bond purchases would remain unchanged, so long as the economy shows signs of improvement.
Elsewhere, the euro pulled back from session lows against the dollar, with EUR/USD down 0.15% to 1.3713. The pair fell to lows of 1.3686 earlier after data showed that private sector activity in the euro area slowed in February.
The Markit euro zone composite output purchasing managers’ index ticked down to a two month low of 52.7 this month, but remained close to January’s 31-month high of 52.9.
A modest pickup in euro zone service sector activity was offset by an easing the rate of manufacturing output. However, manufacturing activity continued to outperform services activity, due in large part to strong export demand from outside the euro area.
Germany’s composite output index rose to a 32-month high this month, but France’s composite index fell to a two-month low, as service sector activity declined at the fastest rate in nine months.
Elsewhere, the pound recovered from lows of 1.6636 against the dollar, with GBP/USD edging up 0.02% to 1.6682 after Bank of England official Martin Weale said U.K. interest rates will rise in spring 2015.