The yen slipped against the dollar on Friday after Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda said it was too soon to declare victory on pulling inflation up to a desired level.
Meanwhile, the dollar was little changed against its other major peers, bitcoin took a breather after surging last month, and China's yuan dipped after weak manufacturing data.
Against the yen , the dollar was up 0.26% at 150.36, after rising 6.3% in the first two months of the year. The moves put the Japanese currency close to its weakest levels since November and not far off the lowest since 1990.
Ueda said "I don't think we are there yet" on Friday when asked whether a sustainable 2% rate of inflation was in sight.
In contrast to most world economies' recent battles with surging inflation, Japan is trying to boost price increases after years of anaemic demand.
Ueda's comments appeared to push back against a colleague's suggestion on Thursday that hinted at the need to exit ultra-loose monetary policy, boosting the yen.
The dollar index , which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was little changed at 104.13. It rose 0.3% on Thursday after inflation data, and 2.7% across January and February.
The data showed U.S. prices, as measured by the Federal Reserve's target PCE index, picked up in January in line with expectations, while annual inflation slipped to the lowest in three years.
Traders who bet on interest rates now see a roughly 67% chance of the first Fed rate cut coming in June, up from 63% on Thursday, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
The euro was last roughly unchanged at $1.0807, reacting little to figures which showed euro zone inflation slowed slightly less than expected to 2.6% in February, from 2.8% in January.
The euro zone's currency has traded within a range of $1.07 to $1.11 since November as investors have struggled to work out when the ECB and the Fed will start cutting rates.
The franc showed little reaction to Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan announcing he would step down after 12 years. It was last down slightly at 0.8856 francs per dollar.
Source : Reuters
