The dollar was slightly higher against the yen and the euro during Asia trade Monday, with a lack of fresh trading cues leaving investors with little reason to make any major moves.

Around 0250 GMT, the greenback was at Y123.98 from Y123.89 late Friday in New York.

The greenback edged up early in the session to Y124.12, regaining some of the ground lost Friday after disappointing U.S. employment-cost data cast doubt on a September rate increase by the Federal Reserve. But stock market weakness in Tokyo and China soon put a lid on gains. The Nikkei Stock Average was down 0.5% midday, while the Shanghai Composite Index shed 1.5%.

The dollar “remains directionless in a comfort zone,” said Yuzo Sakai, manager of FX business promotion at Tokyo Forex & Ueda Harlow, adding that market participants have little choice but to avoid making major trades in the absence of catalysts.

With the dollar lacking direction, investors are increasingly shifting their attention to highly anticipated U.S. jobs data for July on Friday.

“The heightened attention on the upcoming labor data is unusual,” said FPG Securities chief executive Koji Fukaya in a note.

Hopes remain high among investors that potentially upbeat labor data could help the dollar break above resistance around the so-called “Kuroda line” of Y124.60, the dollar level before the Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda made comments about the yen in June. At that time, Mr. Kuroda caused the greenback to slide roughly Y2 from around Y124.60 after saying the yen was unlikely to weaken any more in relative terms. He later clarified his position by saying he was neither trying to assess the nominal exchange rate nor forecast its future movement.