The dollar fell against the yen in early Asian trade Thursday as speculators sold the U.S. currency. The greenback was stronger against the euro.
The dollar bought 102.60 yen on the Tokyo foreign exchange market at 11 a.m. Thursday, down from the 102.86 yen it bought in New York.
The euro was trading at $1.3007 Thursday morning in Tokyo from $1.3064 late Wednesday. Against the Japanese currency, the euro slipped to 133.45 yen from 133.81 yen.
In other currencies, the dollar also was lower against the South Korean won and Singapore dollar. It bought 1,031.65 won, down from 1,030.8 won late Wednesday, and traded at S$1.6335 Singapore dollars from S$1.6342.
The dollar gained against the euro and the yen in New York overnight after data showed the U.S. economy was expanding.
The U.S. Labor Department said the number of laid-off workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits totaled 319,000 last week, a drop of 48,000 from the previous week. It was the biggest one-week improvement in more than three years and relieved worries that the job market might be weakening because of two prior weeks of rising jobless claims.
U.S. construction on new homes and apartments, after being depressed by rainy weather in November, soared 10.9 percent in December, the Commerce Department reported.
The news helped the euro slide to a two-month low against the dollar of $1.2960 on Wednesday.