Banknotes of Japanese yen are seen in this illustration picture taken September 23, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO (Reuters) -The yen wallowed near a record low versus the euro and a nine-month trough to the dollar on Thursday after Japan's new premier said she wants the central bank to go slow on interest rate hikes.

The Aussie dollar climbed to a two-week high after official data showed a larger decline in the unemployment rate than economists had forecast, lessening the impetus for rate cuts.

Currency markets could face some volatility over coming days with the prolonged U.S. government shutdown likely to end soon, triggering the release of a backlog of economic data. However, the White House said on Wednesday that jobs and consumer price figures for October may never be released.

The yen was little changed at 179.32 per euro in the Asian morning, after dipping to an unprecedented 179.47 overnight. It was steady at 154.82 per dollar, following its decline to the lowest since early February at 155.05 on Wednesday, crossing the psychological 155 mark.

The euro eased 0.1% to $1.1582.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday expressed her administration's preference for interest rates to stay low and asked for close coordination with the Bank of Japan.

She also has asked BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda to report regularly to the government's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy.

Meanwhile, Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama gave a new verbal warning on yen weakness as it approached 155 per dollar on Wednesday, noting "one-sided and rapid movements in the foreign exchange market."

A weak yen could force the BOJ's hand, leading to a hike next month. Traders see a 24% chance of a quarter-point increase to the key rate in December, rising to 46% odds for a hike by January.

"The yen's weakness ... is likely making the government increasingly nervous," said Norihiro Yamaguchi, an economist at Oxford Economics.

"The exchange rate is crucial to the survival of the administration," he said. "To mitigate yen weakness, the government has to accept the Bank of Japan's rate hikes in the end."

In Australia, traders lay 16% odds for a quarter-point rate cut in December, following some solid economic data this week that reduced the likelihood of easier policy in the near term.

Thursday's figures showed employment jumped in October as firms took on more full-time workers, pulling the jobless rate down from a four-year high and calming fears the labour market was slowing sharply.

A top Australian central banker said on Wednesday there was increasing debate about whether the current cash rate of 3.6% is restrictive enough to keep inflation in check, adding that the question is critical for the policy outlook.

The Aussie gained 0.3% to $0.6559 on Thursday, and earlier touched $0.6563, the strongest level since October 30.

(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Richard Chang and Sam Holmes)