Yen Rises As Most Asian Stock Markets Traded Lower

The Japanese yen strengthened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday, after Asian stock markets mostly traded lower as investors digested the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's most recent meeting and the overnight plunge in crude oil prices.

The Federal Reserve plans to reduce its bloated balance sheet, but failed to provide a specific timeline to begin the process, the minutes of the June Federal Open Market Committee showed.

Crude oil futures tumbled Wednesday, snapping an eight-day winning streak amid signs that OPEC's supply quota plan may be falling apart.

Wednesday, the yen showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the yen fell against the euro, the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc, it held steady against the pound.

In the Asian trading, the yen rose to a 3-day high of 127.99 against the euro, from yesterday's closing value of 128.54. The yen may test resistance around the 125.00 region.

Against the pound and the Swiss franc, the yen advanced to 146.05 and 117.01 from yesterday's closing quotes of 146.46 and 117.47, respectively. If the yen extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 143 against the pound and 115 against the franc.

Against the U.S. and the Canadian dollars, the yen edged up to 112.89 and 87.03 from yesterday's closing quotes of 113.25 and 87.39, respectively. The yen is likely to find resistance around 111 against the greenback and 85 against the loonie.

In today's events, Swiss CPI data and German construction PMI data, both for June, are due to be released later in the day.

At 6:00 am ET, European Central Bank executive board member Peter Praet is scheduled to participate in International Conference of Commercial Bank Economists (ICCBE) 2017 in Paris.

At 7:30 am ET, European Central Bank's monetary policy meeting accounts of its latest monetary policy meeting is set to be published.

In the New York session, U.S. jobs data for June, trade data for May, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended July 1, U.S. Markit's services PMI for June, U.S. ISM non-manufacturing PMI data for June, U.S. crude oil inventories data, Canada building permits for May, and trade data for May are slated for release.

At 10:00 am ET, Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell is expected to deliver a speech titled "The Case for Housing Finance Reform" at the American Enterprise Institute, in Washington DC.