Foreign exchange market. Asian session

(Time/ Region/ Event/ Period/ Previous/ Forecast/ Actual)

00:00 China Bank holiday

01:00 China Manufacturing PMI April 50.1 50 50.1

01:00 China Non-Manufacturing PMI April 53.7 53.4

01:30 Australia Producer price index, y/y Quarter I 1.1% 0.7%

01:30 Australia Producer price index, q / q Quarter I 0.1% 0.5%

01:30 Japan Labor Cash Earnings, YoY March 0.1% 0.1%

01:35 Japan Manufacturing PMI (Finally) April 50.3 49.7 49.9

The dollar was moderately higher against the yen and the euro in quiet Asia trade Friday, with many investors avoiding taking strong positions ahead of Japan's "Golden Week" holidays next week.

Amid increased uncertainty over the timeframe for the Federal Reserve to raise short-term rates, the dollar may gain traction if April ISM manufacturing index scheduled later Friday signals a U.S. economic recovery for the second quarter, market participants said.

But Mr. Ueno said the dollar's downside still remains solid as "there are a slew of investors lining up to buy (the dollar on dips) in need, regardless of U.S. economic indicators," adding that some of them were supposed to leave buy orders during holidays in Japan.

Market participants showed a muted reaction to Japan's consumer price data earlier the day, which showed inflation in Japan rose for the first time in almost a year in March with a 0.2% on-year gain but remains far below the Bank of Japan's 2% target.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $1.1200

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair was trading around $1.5345

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair rose to Y119.75

UK mfg PMI due at 0830GMT provides the domestic highlight this morning, accompanied by lending data.