• The dollar dropped 0.7 percent to 112.37 yen JPY=, slipping further from its highs near 114.40 yen touched last week.
The dollar's index against a basket of six major currencies .DXY =USD dropped to 97.93, giving up all of the gains made after Trump's election victory in November.
The euro EUR= hit a six-month high of $1.1117, as it also drew support from solid economic data in the euro zone.
• Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said he told premier Shinzo Abe that the central bank will continue its ultra-easy monetary policy in a meeting held on Wednesday.
"I told the prime minister that Japan's economy is steadily recovering and will continue to grow above its potential," Kuroda told reporters after the meeting.
"Under these conditions, prices will rise. But inflation is still far from our (2 percent) target. I told the prime minister that we will continue with our monetary easing programme," he said.
• South Korea said on Wednesday it wanted to reopen communications with North Korea as new President Moon Jae-in seeks a two-track policy involving sanctions and dialogue with its reclusive neighbour to rein in its nuclear and missile programmes.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday there was a high possibility of conflict with North Korea, whose nuclear and missile capabilities seem to have advanced rapidly recently, South Korea's Edaily reported.
"The reality is that there is a high possibility of a military conflict at the NLL (Northern Limit Line) and military demarcation line," Moon was cited as saying.
• Chinese state media on Wednesday criticized the United States for hindering efforts to stop global cyber threats in the wake of the WannaCry "ransomware" attack that has infected more than 300,000 computers worldwide in recent days.
The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) should shoulder some blame for the attack, which targets vulnerabilities in Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) systems and has infected some 30,000 Chinese organizations as of Saturday, the China Daily said.
• Japan's core machinery orders fell short of expectations in March from the previous month and companies forecast a decline in investment over April-June, underscoring the fragile nature of the country's export-driven economic recovery.
But analysts say the data, considered as highly volatile, does not signal any major change in a moderate but broad-based uptrend in capital expenditure in a recovering economy.
Core orders, regarded as a leading indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, rose 1.4 percent in March from the previous month, Cabinet Office data showed on Wednesday. The outcome marked a second straight rising month but undershot the median market forecast for a 2.1 percent gain.
• The Trump administration's top trade officials hope to keep the North American Free Trade Agreement as a trilateral deal in negotiations with Canada and Mexico to revamp the 23-year-old pact, senators said on Tuesday.
• The leader of Britain's biggest workers' union has said he couldn't see the opposition Labour Party winning a June 8 parliamentary election, a remarkable statement from one of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's most powerful supporters.
• Japan and other remaining members of the Trans Pacific Partnership will this weekend decide how to revive the trade agreement ditched by U.S. President Donald Trump.
• Oil prices fell on Wednesday after data showed an increase in U.S. crude inventories, stoking concerns that markets remain oversupplied despite efforts by top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia to extend output cuts.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $48.39, down 27 cents, or 0.6 percent.
Brent crude was down 20 cents, or 0.4 percent, from the last close at $51.45 per barrel at 0647 GMT.
Reference: Reuters
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