The dollar struggled during Thursday’s Asian trading session, trading lower against most of its trading partners, perhaps prompted by a sell-off after Donald Trump’s famed tax reform bill was passed last week. The U.S. dollar was trading at $1.1926 against the euro, down 0.34 percent as of 2:18 p.m. HK/SIN. Commodity-driven currencies such as the Canadian dollar have been rising in recent sessions as oil prices have risen. The U.S. dollar was down 0.31 percent against the loonie on Thursday afternoon. 

The greenback was also lower against the yen, trading at 112.80, a 0.48 slide. The yen was boosted by reports out of Japan that the country’s economy is continuing to strengthen. Data showed that Japanese companies are continuing to predict industrial production increases and to anticipate increased demand from overseas. The country’s growth in 2017 has surpassed some analysts’ expectations and has raised the question as to whether the Bank of Japan can or should continue its easy money policy in the coming year. BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda publicly announced last week that he does not intend to raise rates as long as consumer prices remain far from the bank’s 2 percent inflation target. 

Bitcoin Slides Steeply

Bitcoin was struggling even more than the dollar on Thursday, falling below the $14,000 mark after trading near $16,000 on Wednesday afternoon. Bitcoin was trading at $13,961.01 on Thursday afternoon according to Coinbase, fueled by comments from South Korea that is may shut down some cryptocurrency exchanges, a possibility which remains purely speculative for the moment, but has still had a dramatic impact on the cryptocurrency’s price.