The vote on Obamacare is a litmus test for Trump today at 15:00

Financial markets' immediate focus is on whether Trump can gather enough support at a vote later in the day to pass a bill to rollback Obamacare, one of his key campaign pledges.

Trump's plan faces resistance from some conservative Republicans who view it as too similar to Obamacare, and from moderates concerned it will hurt some voters.

If he can't push through the bill (on Obamacare), it would further damage stocks. It also raises the risk of his other policies, like tax cuts, being delayed," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief forex strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.

"So today's vote is of main importance to the currency market."

The dollar was up 0.15 percent at 111.350 yen, enjoying a bit of respite after sliding to a four-month low of 110.735 on Wednesday, when it fell for the seventh straight session.

With global equities buffeted by risk aversion this week -Wall Street on Tuesday suffered its worst day since Trump's election - the dollar has struggled notably against the yen, often sought by investors due to its perceived safe-haven status in times of market tumult.

Its safe-haven status was also seen helping the yen as Tokyo dealt with a political scandal involving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, facing questions about his ties to a nationalist school involved in a murky land deal.

"If the situation over the prime minister's dealings with the school remains unresolved, the yen could gain further against the dollar," said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities.

Read more:

• And for all the bounty hunters: Iran offers $80m for the head of Donald Trump
• US service member and 2 US Defense Dept contractors killed in Kenya attack
• Iranian Quds leader Qasem Soleimani has been killed – how are markets reacting
• A calm end of an otherwise loud 2019
• Old but Gold – Top 5 posts of Varchev Finance