The U.S. dollar recorded deep losses on Thursday after the meeting of both the Federal Reserve Bank and the Bank of Japan, with the Fed keeping interest rates and the monetary policy unchanged for the third meeting in a row, and delaying hiking rates for later in the year, as it awaits signs of a stronger economic activity first.

From Asia, Japan's yen surged sharply after Bank of Japan also kept interest rates unchanged instead of putting them deeper into negative levels, with the local currency soaring nearly three percent against the dollar to trade at 108.22, a ten-day high.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback's performance against an array of six major rivals, tumbled to a two-week trough at 93.74, with a 0.70% loss, while the euro gained 0.30% on the dollar to 1.1357. Sterling advanced also 0.30% to hover around 1.4585.

Oil prices fell on the other hand on profit-taking after hitting their highest levels in 2016 yesterday, with Brent crude futures down 24 cents, or 0.50% to trade at $46.69 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures shed 22 cents, or 0.49% to hover around $45.11 a barrel.

Investors wait for an array of data later today, with a German Unemployment Change survey expected to show a rise on one thousand in the jobless count in March, compared to no-change in February, which wouldn't change markets a lot.

From the U.S., unemployment claims for last week are expected to have risen to 258 thousand from their 42-year low at 247K, which would still indicate a strong labor sector in the world's largest economy.