The greenback declined on Thursday as markets remained nervous ahead of important U.S. labor figures, meanwhile the yen strengthened as BOJ provided additional hints about a likely shift away from the central bank's ultra-dovish approach.

Markets have been unclear about when the US central bank intends to start lowering borrowing costs, even though it is generally expected that the Fed will maintain interest rates on quo in December. Even if private job data indicated more slowdown in the labor sector, the uncertainty has helped the dollar.

The highly anticipated nonfarm payrolls data, which is coming on Friday, is anticipated to offer clear-cut insights into the state of employment in the largest economy in the world and will probably influence the direction of the dollar for the rest of the year.

The US dollar index that gauges the greenback versus its major pairs edged down by 0.2% at 103.94.

The yen outperformed all other currencies in Asia for the day, gaining 1.6% versus the US dollar as Ueda noted that the BOJ will face additional difficulties in the upcoming months and discussed the alternatives available to the bank in light of its potential departure from negative interest rates.