Dollar Falls in Asia on US Data, Outlook

The dollar was trading at 98.98 yen midafternoon in Tokyo, down from 100 yen late Wednesday in New York. The euro stood at $1.5807, down from $1.5815.

On Wednesday, Washington released data showing that durable goods orders fell 1.7 percent in February much lower than the consensus of a 0.8 percent gain polled by Dow Jones.

"Day by day, I am strengthening my conviction that the U.S. economy is in tatters," said Hideki Amikura, a senior manager at Nomura Trust and Banking.

The market is now waiting for U.S. weekly jobless claims data and final gross domestic product figures for the fourth quarter both set for release later in the day.

If the results are worse than expected, even slightly, another round of dollar-selling is like to start, said Hiroshi Yoshida, a senior dealer at Shinkin Central Bank. "The market is hungry for dollar-selling factors," he said.

U.S. jobless claims may hit 370,000, while GDP is expected to have grown by 0.6 percent, according to a Dow Jones poll of economists.

The dollar was mostly higher against other regional currencies, climbing to 9,212 Indonesian rupiah from 9,180 in the previous session, and to 990.8 South Korean won from 986.7.