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New York - The euro and dollar traded flat on Thursday but the yen slipped as fresh positive data boosted hopes for the eurozone and Chinese economies.
But emerging market (EM) currencies continued under pressure, with falls in the Turkish lira, the Indonesian rupiah, India's rupee, and the Thai baht.
At 21:00 GMT the euro was $1.3354, barely changed from $1.3357 late on Wednesday.
The dollar rose to ¥98.68 from ¥97.71, while the pushed to ¥131.80 from ¥130.49.
Confidence in the major currencies continued to rise after a jump in the Markit eurozone purchasing managers' index (PMI) survey for August, which showed business activity had picked up sharply to a 26-month high.
"The upturn is being led by Germany, where growth accelerated again in August, driven in turn by rising domestic and export demand," said Markit chief economist Chris Williamson.
"So far, the third quarter is shaping up to be the best... since the spring of 2011," Williamson said, cautioning that the bloc was not yet entirely in the clear.
And HSBC's PMI for China's manufacturing sector jumped to 50.1 in August, up from July's 11-month low of 47.7, curbing worries that China's economy was stalling.
"The data feeds a more general expectation that economic growth will pick up over the second half of 2013 and into 2014," said Timothy Evans of Citi Futures.
Meanwhile US Treasury yields climbed, continuing to exacerbate the outflow of capital from weak emerging market countries.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond pushed to a fresh two-year high of 2.90% from 2.86% late on Wednesday, while the 30-year increased to 3.89% from 3.88%.
"The correlation between the US Treasury market and EM currencies remains very high," said Jens Nordvig of Nomura.
"It varies from currency to currency, and there is indeed some evidence that countries with more vulnerable balance of payments positions are suffering most with the UST (Treasury bonds) yields spike."
The British pound fell to $1.5586 from $1.5657 late on Wednesday, while the dollar rose to 0.9230 Swiss franc from 0.9222 franc.
