Investing.com - The Japanese yen was slightly stronger against the dollar on Thursday ahead of a busy data day with Australia and China also in focus.
In Japan, a slew of data starting with the corporate good price index for June with a 0.1% increase expected month-on-month, core machinery orders for May with a gain of 0.7% month-on-month and the tertiary activity index with a 1.9% gain seen month-on-month - all at 2350 GMT.
USD/JPY traded at 101.60, down 0.04%, ahead of the data.
In Australia comes MI inflation expectations at 0000 GMT and then employment data with a gain of 12,000 jobs seen and a slight nudge up in the unemployment rate to 5.9% from 5.8% at 0130 GMT.
AUD/USD traded flat at 0.9412 ahead of the data and important numbers from China, a top trading partner for commodities such as iron ore.
China trade data is due at 0230 GMT with exports seen up 10.6% and imports increasing 5.8%.
Overnight, the dollar traded largely lower as investors opted to go long on stocks after the Federal Reserve confirmed market expectations for monetary stimulus programs to end this year, likely in October.
The Federal Reserve said in the minutes of its monetary policy meeting earlier that it should end its monthly bond-buying program by the end of this year, likely in October, which sent investors chasing stocks on sentiments that the economy is recovering.
The Fed has gradually been trimming the amount of bonds it purchases by $10 billion a month, and by end of this year, the program should close if the Fed continues to taper on its current trajectory.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.01% at 80.07.
On Thursday, the U.S. is to release the weekly government report on initial jobless claims.