The yen strengthened against the dollar in Asian trade on Wednesday, despite core machinery orders down a surprise 2.1% on month in September in a sharp turnaround from strong growth the previous month.
USD/JPY reached 99.50, down 0.14%, in a seesaw day of trade that saw a range of 99.43 - 99.68. There were no obvious drivers for yen strength though U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is in the Asian region this week with stops planned in Singapore, Malaysia, Beijing and Tokyo.
He told CNBC Asia on Wednesday that budget talks in the U.S. need to come up with spending cuts and more revenues.
"A mix of balanced policies where they are talking about both revenue and spending options and let's see where they go, " Lew said about talks between Republicans and Democrats on a budget for the current year, which he said should hopefully avoid a repeat of a standoff that shutdown the government.
Lew did not mention current dollar strength linked to expectations the U.S. Federal reserve may soon begin to taper its USD85 billion a month asset purchase program as early as December.
 But he did say any economic recovery in the United States needs to be underpinned by growth in Asia and Europe as well.
"Demand growth is critical. U.S. growth cannot make up for a lack of demand growth in either Asia or Europe."
EUR/USD hit 1.3445, up 0.07% ahead of the European trading day.
AUD/USD traded at 0.9305, up 0.04%, in a whipsaw day for the Aussie which gained in early trade after a November survey by Westpac-Melbourne Institute showed its consumer sentiment index rose 1.9% to 110.3, nearing a peak earlier this year as house prices in Sydney and the state of New South Wales and in Western Australia rose smartly.
It then fell after the third quarter wage-price index rose 0.5%, below a +0.7% forecast, implying that wage pressures on inflation are limited before rebounding slightly again.
The consumer survey comes on the heels of disappointing October business confidence and conditions in a survey by National Australia Bank released Tuesday. Both surveys are closely watched by the Reserve Bank of Australia.