The yen slipped on Thursday as global tensions including the US-China trade conflict showed signs of thawing, bolstering investor confidence and reducing demand for safe-haven currencies. The pound rose to its highest level against the dollar in more than a month on hopes that a no-deal Brexit would be avoided.
"Funding currencies are in retreat on a ratcheting down of tensions on a global basis," said Karl Schamotta, director of global markets strategy at Cambridge Global Payments in Toronto. The most notable development was China and the United States agreeing on Thursday to hold high-level talks in early October in Washington. That stoked hopes the world's biggest economies would move toward a deal to resolve their trade differences.
Their heated rhetoric and tit-for-tat tariffs have rattled investors and their outlook on the global economy since this summer.
"That's very positive since it's been so tumultuous for markets the past few months because of the trade war," Minh Trang, senior currency trader at Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California, said of the October trade talks.
In late US trading, the dollar was up 0.53% at 106.975 yen after reaching 107.235 yen, which was its highest level since late July.
Against the euro, the yen was 0.5% lower at 118.015 after falling to 118.6, marking a three-week low versus the common currency.
The dollar was 0.04% weaker versus a basket of currencies on lower safe-haven demand, but its losses were limited by some encouraging news on the US labour market and service sector.
Payroll processor ADP said US companies hired 195,000 workers in August, which exceeded the 158,000-worker increase that analysts polled by Reuters had forecast.
Traders and analysts await the government's monthly payrolls report due at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT) on Friday as a confirmation of resilience in the labour market.
Sterling continued its rally after British lawmakers approved legislation on Wednesday to extend the Brexit deadline for the third time and rejected Prime Minister Boris Johnson's motion to hold a snap election.
The pound was last trading up 0.60% at $1.2327, moving further from a three-year low reached on Tuesday.
Against the euro, sterling gained 0.57% to 89.52 pence after touching a near six-week high of 89.49 pence.
Among other major currencies, the Swedish crown jumped after Riksbank, the country's central bank, said it still expected to tighten monetary policy around the turn of the year, surprising markets and sparking big gains in the long-suffering currency. The Swedish crown reached a two-week high of 10.6575 against the euro, and rose 0.44% to 9.693 to the dollar.