The dollar slipped to a session low of 109.89 yen in early trade as Japanese stocks continued to rally and after data showed a larger-than-expected trade surplus in Japan, but the currency later found support on buying by Japanese importers.
"There is buying at the lower end of the range and selling by exporters at the upper end," said Toshiaki Kimura, chief manager of the forex division at Mitsubishi Trust and Banking.
The dollar bought around 110.03 yen compared with 110.14 yen late in New York trade.
The euro rowed back to $1.2062 from $1.2082, holding above a two-and-a-half-week low of $1.2053 hit on Wednesday.
The European currency was at 132.77 yen versus 133.10. It fell to a seven-and-a-half week low of 132.03 yen on Wednesday.
The yen got a slight boost from news that Japan's trade surplus rose 44.2 percent in July from a year earlier to 1.1378 trillion yen ($10.33 billion), up for a 13th consecutive month and topping expectations for 882.4 billion yen.
Tokyo's Nikkei stock average was up 0.1 percent in late afternoon trade.
Traders said the market was waiting for US second-quarter growth data and a speech by the Fed chief, both slated for Friday.
"He (Greenspan) is going to be upbeat. Nobody expects him to say the economy is doing badly," said Takashi Toyahara, forex manager at Nomura Securities.
Federal Reserve Board Governor Ben Bernanke and Dallas Fed President Robert McTeer both made bullish comments on the economy earlier in the week, saying that expansion was continuing.
Toyahara said the dollar would likely trade in familiar ranges until next week's US jobs report, a vital element for the Fed when deciding monetary policy.
Currencies showed little reaction to weekly capital flows data for Japan.