The safe-haven currencies such as the U.S. dollar and the yen weakened against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday, as Asian stock markets traded higher, though gains are modest in most markets, following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street after the release of the latest Federal Reserve minutes. Investors are looking ahead to an OPEC meeting later in the day, which is widely expected to extend output cuts.

The FOMC minutes were consistent with another hike in June, but conditional on recent economic softness proving transitory. Policy makers also discussed scaling back their $4 trillion-plus holdings of mortgage-backed bonds and longer-term U.S. government bonds.

Wednesday, the U.S. dollar had risen against its major rivals, while the yen had fallen.

The U.S. dollar rose rose 0.32 percent against the euro, 0.11 percent against the pound and 0.13 percent against the Swiss franc. The yen fell 0.01 percent against the euro, 0.18 percent against the pound and 0.07 percent against the Swiss franc.

In the Asian trading, the U.S. dollar fell to more than a 5-week low of 1.3394 against the Canadian dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 1.3404. The greenback is likely to find support around the 1.32 region.

Against the euro, the Swiss franc and the Australian dollar, the greenback dropped to 2-day lows of 1.1245, 0.9717 and 0.7516,from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.1217, 0.9731 and 0.7503, respectively. If the greenback extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.14 against the euro, 0.95 against the franc and 0.76 against the aussie.

The greenback edged down to 1.2986 against the pound, from yesterday's closing value of 1.2976. On the downside, 1.30 is seen as the next support level for the greenback.

The yen fell to a 9-day low of 125.49 against the euro and an 8-day low of 83.88 against the Australian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 125.04 and 83.65, respectively. If the yen extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 127.00 against the euro and 85.00 against the aussie.

Against the pound and the U.S. dollar, the yen dropped to 144.98 and 111.69 from an early 2-day highs of 144.49 and 111.47, respectively. The yen may test support near 148.00 against the pound and 114.00 against the greenback.

The yen edged down to 114.85 against the Swiss franc and 83.36 against the Canadian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 114.55 and 83.15, respectively. On the downside, 116.00 against the franc and 84.00 against the loonie are seen as the next support levels for the yen.

Looking ahead, U.K. GDP data for the first quarter and BBA mortgage approvals for April are due to be released at 4:30 am ET.

At 4:00 am ET, Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor Guy Debelle is expected to speak at the launch of the FX Global Code, in London.

In the New York session, U.S. advance goods trade balance for April, wholesale inventories data for April and U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended May 20 are slated for release.

At 10:00 am ET, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is expected to participate in a panel discussion titled "A Conversation with former Treasury Under Secretaries for International Affairs," in Washington DC.

At 12:00 pm ET, Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Sylvain Leduc is expected to speak at The Payments Canada Summit, in Toronto.

At 1:00 pm ET, European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio will give a lecture at Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao (ISEG) Master in Monetary and Financial Economics in Lisbon, Portugal.

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