Yen gains slightly after better than expected provisional PMI

The yen reversed earlier weakness and gained slightly on Friday in Asia as a manufacturing gauge showed some life.

Japan reported the provisional manufacturing PMI for July at 49.0, better than the expected level of 48.3, and higher than 48.1 in June, though still below expansion.

USD/JPY changed hands at 105.83, down 0.03%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7474, down 0.25%. The euro was down 0.03 to 1.1023.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.02% to 96.96.

Overnight, the dollar pared losses against the other major currencies on Thursday, as strong U.S. housing sector data lent support and as upbeat remarks by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi failed to sustainably ease global growth concerns.

International Market News

Data showed that U.S. existing home sales increased by 1.1% in June to 5.57 million units from the 5.51 million units in May that was revised from the initial read of 5.53 million. The consensus forecast was for a 0.5% decline to 5.48 million units.

The report came after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 16 fell by 1,000 to 253,000 from the previous week’s total of 254,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to increase by 11,000 to 265,000 last week.

Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index fell to -2.9 this month from June’s reading of 4.7. Analysts had expected the index to improve to 5.0 in July.

At the conclusion of its policy meeting, the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low 0.0%, in line with forecasts.