TOKYO: The dollar inched higher in Asia on Friday as investors reacted to fresh US data that pointed to a brightening jobs picture but little pickup in factory output.
The greenback fetched 97.42 yen in late afternoon Tokyo trade, from 97.36 yen in New York on Thursday, while the euro bought $1.3338, slipping slightly from $1.3346 in US trading.
The European single currency was flat on the Japanese unit at 129.96 yen, after winning support this week from fresh data that showed the 17-nation eurozone exited recession in the second quarter.
Industrial production in the United States was flat in July, Federal Reserve data showed Thursday, in a sign that economic growth remains tepid.
But new claims for US unemployment insurance benefits fell last week to their lowest level in six years, boosting expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin tapering its bond-buying stimulus programme soon.
A pull-back on the Fed's quantitative easing scheme is a positive for the dollar as it means fewer greenbacks in the financial system, boosting demand and the unit's value.
"The labour market is on a stronger footing, and we're expecting the August payroll report to continue to show decent job gains -- enough to allay fears that the economy is softening," Aroop Chatterjee, a foreign-exchange strategist at Barclays, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Sentiment on Europe also got a boost from strong British retail sales figures, a key indicator of consumer confidence, with the data showing a 1.1 percent rise in July from the previous month as a heatwave fuelled spending on food, drinks and summer clothing.
Analysts said the figures pointed further to expectations of a rise in the Bank of England's record-low interest rate sooner than expected.
The Indian rupee, one of Asia's worst-performing currencies this year, hit a new low of 62.00 rupees to the greenback earlier in the day. By the afternoon, the dollar was at 61.84 from 61.44 rupees the previous day.
The dollar was mixed against other Asia-Pacific currencies.
It strengthened to 43.82 Philippine pesos from 43.73 pesos the previous day, to 31.30 Thai baht from 31.26 baht, to Sg$1.2712 from Sg$1.2684 and to 10,419 Indonesian rupiah from 10,325 rupiah.
The greenback slipped to 1,113.97 South Korean won from 1,117.06 won and to Tw$29.91 from Tw$29.97.
The Australian dollar eased to 91.51 US cents from 91.75 cents.
The Chinese yuan fetched 15.96 yen against 15.98 yen.
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