The Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar fell against other major currencies in the Asian session on Tuesday on optimism after reports said that Greece debt deal talks had made progress.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was quoted as saying that "significant progress" has been made in reaching a debt-swap accord with bondholders. Papademos also said on Monday that his government wanted to conclude negotiations with its private sector bond holders on a debt restructuring deal by the end of this week.
In economic news, unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.6 percent in December, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said today.
That was slightly above forecasts for 4.5 percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous month.
Meanwhile, the industrial output in Japan climbed a seasonally adjusted 4.0 percent on month in December, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in its preliminary reading.
That was well above forecasts for an increase of 3.0 percent following the 2.6 percent contraction in November.
The yen slipped to 120.17 against the pound and 100.66 against the euro with 121.00 and 101.00 seen as the next downside target levels, respectively. At yesterday's close, the yen traded at 119.97 against the pound and 100.36 against the euro.
Against the loonie and the franc, the yen declined to 76.36 and 83.54, respectively. If the yen weakens further, it may target 77.00 against the loonie and 85.00 versus the franc. The yen ended Monday's deals at 76.25 against the loonie and 83.28 versus the franc.
The yen that closed yesterday's trading at 80.94 against the aussie and 62.57 against the kiwi dropped to 81.23 and 62.90, respectively. On the downside, the yen may target 81.5 against the aussie and 63.00 against the kiwi.
Business confidence in Australia edged higher in December, according to survey results released by National Australia Bank.
NAB's Business Confidence Index increased by one point to 3.0 in December.
Business conditions, meanwhile, were unchanged from the month before, NAB said.
The greenback reached a new 3-month low of 76.22 against the yen and near a 6-week low of 1.5744 against the pound, compared to Monday's closing value of 76.35 and 1.5712, respectively. The next downside target level for the U.S. currency is seen at 76.00 against the yen and 1.58 versus the pound.
The dollar slipped to 0.9133 against the franc and 1.3200 against the euro, as against the yesterday's close of 0.9173 and 1.3145, respectively. If the dollar declines further, it may target 0.91 against the franc and 1.33 against the euro.
Against the aussie and the kiwi, the greenback edged down to 1.0647 and 0.8244, respectively. On the downside, the greenback may likely find target at 1.07 against the aussie and 0.83 versus the kiwi. The aussie-greenback pair and the kiwi-greenback pair ended Monday's trading at 1.0601 and 0.8195, respectively.
The greenback that finished yesterday's deals at 1.0017 against the loonie touched a 4-day low of 1.0001. If the greenback slides further, it may target 0.995 level.
Looking ahead, Japan's housing stars data for December and small business confidence index for January is due at 12:00 am ET.
German retail sales and Switzerland's UBS consumption indicator for December, German unemployment rate for January, U.K mortgage approvals and Eurozone unemployment rate for the month of December are slated for release in the European session.
Canada's GDP for November, industrial product price for December, U.S. S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for November and consumer confidence for January are likely to influence trading in the New York session.
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