Dollar eases against yen in Asia

The dollar eased against the yen on Thursday, struggling to gain traction as investors awaited minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting for clues on monetary policy. Although Shanghai shares climbed 3.4 percent as Chinese markets resumed trade after being on holiday since the start of the month, risk sentiment was subdued overall with US equity futures slipping 0.7 percent.
That helped the yen edge higher against the greenback. The dollar eased 0.2 percent to 119.82 yen, inching away from this week's high of 120.57 yen set on Tuesday. Later in the session, the Fed will release the minutes of its September meeting. Investors will be scrutinising the text for clues on whether the Fed will implement the first interest rate increase since 2006 later this year or wait until 2016.
Some market players, however, said market reaction to the minutes may turn out to be limited, since weak US jobs data last week have strengthened expectations that the timing of the Fed rate hike will be pushed back to next year. "Unless there is something extremely hawkish, I don't think it will become much of a factor," said Satoshi Okagawa, senior global markets analyst for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Singapore, referring to the Fed minutes.
Against a basket of major currencies, the dollar last traded at 95.461, staying within its range so far in October of 95.218 to 96.490. The euro edged up 0.2 percent to $1.1260. Expectations that the Bank of Japan could unveil more stimulus steps as early as this month helped temper gains in the yen.
The BOJ held monetary policy steady on Wednesday, but slumping exports and falling oil prices have kept pressure on the central bank to come up with an additional stimulus plan that might be announced after at its next meeting on October 30, when it is also expected to cut its long-term economic and price forecasts. Data out on Thursday underscored the declining momentum in Japan's economic recovery. The government cut its official assessment of machinery orders to say that they are stalling, as core orders in August dropped 5.7 percent from the previous month, confounding consensus expectations for a 3.2 percent gain. Sterling eased 0.1 percent to $1.5312, staying below a two-week high of $1.5340 set on Wednesday ahead of the Bank of England's latest policy decision later on Thursday.