Data out on Wednesday showing U.S. private payrolls rose more than expected in July boosted the greenback, as the figures pointed to continued labor market resilience which is likely to keep U.S. rates higher for longer.
That sent the dollar index to its highest since July 7 in the previous session.
The risk-off sentiment also hurt the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars, which had each tumbled more than 1% on Wednesday.
"The U.S. dollar actually strengthened against most other currencies (and) there were risk-aversion trades across all the asset classes."
The yen edged marginally higher to 143.31 per dollar, though languished near an over three-week low of 143.545 hit earlier in the week.
Persons:
shrugging, Treasuries, Vishnu Varathan, nonfarm, Fitch, Tina Teng, Karen Fishman, Goldman Sachs
Organizations:
Treasury, U.S ., Mizuho Bank, White, New, CMC Markets, U.S, Bank, Bank of Japan
Locations:
Asia, U.S, Wall, New Zealand