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Singapore - The US dollar was mixed in Asian trade on Thursday as the latest shakeup in President Barack Obama's economic team put pressure on the currency, analysts said.
The dollar had already taken a hit this week after the US Federal Reserve held interest rates at record lows and said that recovery in the world's biggest economy was "modest".
While it shied away from a new - and controversial - round of spending, the Fed said it will continue to monitor the outlook and was prepared to provide additional stimulus measures if necessary to keep the economy on track.
The dollar was slightly higher at ¥84.59 from ¥84.55 in New York trade late on Wednesday. The euro eased to $1.3401 from 1.3406 in New York and was trading at ¥113.36 from ¥113.20.
Japanese financial markets were closed for a public holiday.
"The Fed's desire to provide assurance at this time should not come as a surprise. The direction of economic policy has been blurred by the top profile resignations in the White House economic team," DBS Bank said in a commentary.
It said the Obama administration could face difficulty in pushing for more fiscal stimulus measures if the Democratic Party suffers huge losses during mid-term elections in November.
Lawrence Summers, seen as one of the main architects of Obama's economic policy, announced on Tuesday he would leave at the end of the year to return to teaching at Harvard University.
His announcement follows the resignations of Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, and budget director Peter Orszag.
Herb Allison, the senior Treasury Department official responsible for running the government's management of hundreds of billions of dollars in toxic assets, also said he would step down on Wednesday.
Other analysts said the US economic outlook remains weak.
"With further monetary stimulus likely to be ineffective and fiscal policy paralysed by bipartisan disagreement, a number of years of weak economic growth and high unemployment look inevitable," said Capital Economics economist Paul Dales.
Against other Asian currencies, the dollar rose to 43.98 Philippine pesos from 43.87 on Wednesday, to 30.668 Thai baht from 30.660, to 8 952.50 Indonesian rupiah from 8 952.25 and to $31.558 Taiwan dollars from $31.550.
The dollae fell to 1 149.95 South Korean won from 1 155.98 and to $1.3257 Singapore dollars from $1.3281.
