TOKYO: The dollar pulled ahead from a nine-day low on Thursday, largely helped by the pound snapping back after a sharp rally made on Brexit relief.
The dollar index, a gauge of the currency's strength against six major counterparts, was up 0.1 percent at 96.633. It shed 0.4 percent overnight, at one point brushing a nine-day trough of 96.385.
The greenback had taken a knock as the pound jumped more than 2 percent after British lawmakers voted against a potentially disorderly "no-deal" departure from the European Union.
Sterling was down 0.65 percent at $1.3254 after climbing to $1.3380 the previous day, its strongest since June 2018.
"The pound is experiencing a bit of a recoil after rising so steeply in the previous session," said Shin Kadota, senior strategist at Barclays in Tokyo.
"The market wants to take a look at how the vote on delaying the Brexit departure pans out and get an idea on how long the postponement would be, and sellers have emerged amid this pause."
British lawmakers are widely expected to vote on Thursday to delay Britain's departure from the EU, currently scheduled for March 29.
"The pound has already made a lot of ground, and since its gains are mostly generated by expectations rather than fundamentals, its current rally looks to have run its course," said Junichi Ishikawa, senior FX strategist at IG Securities in Tokyo.
The dollar was 0.35 percent higher at 111.53 yen after losing 0.2 percent the previous day.
The U.S. currency was lifted as long-term U.S. Treasury yields bounced back from two-month lows plumbed at the start of the week.
The euro was a shade lower at $1.1320 after advancing 0.3 percent overnight.
The Australian dollar was down 0.35 percent at $0.7068 , hit by sharp declines in domestic bond yields and a largely lacklustre batch economic data from Australia's major trading partner China.
Indicators on Thursday showed China's January-February industrial output growth slipped to their slowest pace in 17 years, though fixed-asset investment and retail sales in the world's second largest economy were stronger than expected.
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