05:33 AM EDT, 05/23/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Japanese yen (USD/JPY) fell against a broadly weaker US dollar and most other major currencies during early European trade on Thursday following a mixed bag of local economic figures and a hawkish set of Federal Reserve policy panel minutes.

USD/JPY was quoted 0.03% higher at 156.78, making the Japanese yen the second-worst performing G10 currency behind only British pound sterling, even after the Jibun Bank Flash Composite PMI edged higher to 52.4 for May.

That was up from 52.3 in April but there was no consensus reported for the figure, which was announced soon after Ministry of Finance data showed investment-related capital outflows accelerating in the week to May 18.

Japanese investment in foreign bonds rose to 2.19 trillion yen, more than reversing the 390.6 billion yen fall from the prior week. Meanwhile, foreigners' stock investment in Japan fell to 248.1 billion yen, from 664.8 billion yen previously.

Yen-negative capital outflows have been encouraged by the recent elevation of US government bond yields, which were indicated higher in futures markets on Thursday following a hawkish set of FOMC minutes released late on Wednesday.

The FOMC minutes said "various participants" were willing to raise interest rates further if US inflation pressures merit it and that "participants" discussed holding rates at current levels until inflation shows signs of returning sustainably to the 2% target.