• The dollar rose against a trade-weighted basket of currencies on Thursday as investors consolidated positions with the low-yielding Swiss franc and Japanese yen supported amid deepening anxiety over tensions between the United States and North Korea.
The dollar index .DXY was trading 0.2 percent up at 93.73. It hit a 15-month low of 92.548 on August 2.
The euro edged 0.3 percent lower to 1.1726 against the dollar. It has weakened 1.5 percent since hitting a 2-1/2 year high of 1.1910 on Aug. 2.
• Japan could legally intercept a North Korean missile headed towards Guam, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Thursday in remarks reported by Kyodo news service.
Onodera told a lower house of parliament committee that Japan would be allowed to hit a missile headed towards the U.S. Pacific territory if it was judged to be an existential threat to Japan, Kyodo said. This is a reiteration of the Japanese government's position.
Experts say Japan does not currently have the capability to shoot down a missile flying over its territory headed for Guam.
• Oil futures rose on Thursday after official figures showing U.S. crude inventories fell more than expected, but the market is clearly settling into a range amid quiet trading, analysts said.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $52.88 at around 0617 GMT, after falling slightly earlier. It closed up 1.1 percent on Wednesday, snapping two days of declines.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 16 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $49.72, after declining earlier. The contract gained 0.8 percent in the previous session.
"Broadly I think the market is trading sideways at the moment," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney.
Reference: Reuters
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