The U.S. currency lost nearly 7 percent against the yen in the previous quarter just ended on Wednesday as investors dumped the dollar on a fall in U.S. Treasury yields. But against the closing level at the end of 2008, dollar/yen was down only 1 percent.
The euro EUR= inched down 0.1 percent to $1.4621 after it gained more than 4 percent in July-September.
Against the Japanese currency, the euro edged up 0.1 percent to 131.49 yen EURJPY=R.
Traders said Japanese retail investors are expected to stay buyers of foreign currencies in the fourth quarter, though momentum could slow if Tokyo's Nikkei share average .N225 slides further below the key psychological 10,000 level.
The Nikkei was down 1.4 percent at around 9,987 in afternoon trade.
The Australian dollar hit a 14-month high of $0.8860 but quickly erased its gains to slide to $0.8802, down 0.4 percent on the day, as some players booked profits.
The Aussie has seen a brisk rise, buoyed by higher commodity prices and expectations that domestic interest rates will rise faster than other developed economies.
The Swiss franc, meanwhile, remained on the backfoot against the euro EURCHF=, having dropped the previous day on speculation the Swiss National Bank may have intervened to weaken its currency.
The market showed muted reaction after the Bank of Japan's closely watched quarterly tankan survey showed on Thursday Japanese business morale improved further as the economy picks up from its worst slump in decades, though it was still negative.
The headline index for big manufacturers' sentiment improved to minus 33 in September from minus 48 three month ago after having hit a record low of minus 58 in the March survey. [JPBCLG=ECI]
The big data piece in the United States is the ISM index and at 52.9 currently the index is at is highest since June 2007 and is forecast to rise to 54.0. The data is due at 1400 GMT.
Weekly jobless claims are also due along with some income and spending data for August. (Additional reporting by Anirban Nag in Sydney, Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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