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The best performing currency during Thursday’s Asian session was the Australian dollar which jumped against its US counterpart after strong Australian business spending data. Private Capital Expenditure increased by 3.6% quarter-on-quarter despite expectations for a decline by 1.1%. AUDUSD rallied to a high of $0.9139 after the data from $0.9076 beforehand, and ended the session with a 0.5% gain at 0.9120. The yen remained weak in the Asian session while the dollar consolidated gains. Yen is under pressure due to the Bank of Japan’s monetary easing policies. On Wednesday, Bank of Japan board member Sayuri Shirai said the BOJ should consider expanding monetary stimulus even further. The dollar on the other hand is stronger due to tapering expectations, especially after a strong of positive US data. On Wednesday the Chicago PMI data beat forecasts while the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index also showed an improvement in November. The dollar hit a fresh six-month high against the yen today, touching 102.26 yen. The pair ended the session with a 0.06% gain at 102.21. The euro had a quiet session ending in Asia at 1.3576, almost flat from the US session. Against the yen, the euro hovered near a four-year high, ending at 138.76, up 0.05%. Upcoming European session data to watch for are German employment data and Eurozone reports on economic sentiment. The US is closed due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

The dollar remains bullish against the yen, while the euro hit a new four-year high against the Japanese currency in today’s Asian session. Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda kept markets speculation that the yen will weaken over time as the BOJ continues with its aggressive monetary easing policy and asset purchase program which is aimed at fighting deflation in Japan. The euro climbed to a high of 137.97 yen in the early Asian session while the dollar pushed past Friday's high and climbed to 101.90 yen, the highest since May 29. The increasingly diverging monetary policies of the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan will help keep the dollar/yen’s upward momentum. Against the dollar, the euro hit a high of $1.3559 before declining slightly on profit taking to $1.3539. The euro has made a substantial recovery from last week’s tumble to $1.3398, caused by rumours of negative interest rates from the European Central Bank. These rumours have since been downplayed by ECB Chief Mario Draghi. The British pound remained above the key $1.62 level, with GBPUSD hitting an early session high of $1.6239. The Aussie slid lower to a new 2-1/2 low of $0.9120 as it remains under pressure by the threat of intervention from the Reserve Bank of Australia after comments from Governor Stevens last week who said he is “open-minded” about such a move as he believes the AUD is overvalued compared with fundamentals.