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Investing.com - The yen gained in early Asia on Monday with investors looking ahead to machinery orders data.
USD/JPY changed hands at 113.73, down 0.09%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7550, down 0.19%. EUR/USD was quoted at 1.1166, up 0.16%.
In Japan, core machinery orders for January are due with a 3.0% gain seen month-on-month and a year-on-year decline of 3.6% expected.
Official data released over the weekend showed that China's factory output in the first two months of the year slowed to the weakest level since November 2008, adding to the view that the economy remains in the midst of an ongoing slowdown which will require Beijing to roll out more support in coming months.
Industrial production rose by an annualized rate of 5.4% in January, below expectations for a 5.6% increase and slowing from a gain of 5.9% in the preceding month, the General Administration of Customs said on Saturday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 96.19, down 0.04%.
In the week ahead, investors will be turning their attention to Wednesday's outcome of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, with officials widely expected to keep interest rates on hold after hiking in December for the first time in almost a decade.
Central bank meetings in Japan and Switzerland will also be in focus.
Last week, the dollar fell to near one-month lows against a basket of the other major currencies on Friday as risk appetite was boosted after China's central bank lifted the fixed rate of the yuan and as the European Central Bank indicated it still had policy options available to bolster growth.
China's central bank boosted the fixed rate of the yuan following a sharp rally in the euro on Thursday, after ECB President Mario Draghi appeared to indicate that the bank would not cut interest rates deeper into negative territory.
The move boosted commodity prices and the commodity linked currencies, sending the dollar broadly lower.
Meanwhile, ECB Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said Friday the bank has not run out of tools to boost the economy and will continue to support it until it reaches its inflation target of almost 2%.
The remarks came a day after the ECB delivered a stronger-than-expected package of stimulus measures, cutting interest rates across the euro zone to new record lows and ramping up its quantitative easing program.
But the euro posted its largest one day gain in a month after President Draghi's comment that he expected the bank might not have to cut rates further fueled concerns that officials were running out of policy measures to spur growth.
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