On Friday the greenback was slightly higher against the yen and lower vs the euro and sterling, as traders avoided taking large positions due to the lack of fresh hints and ahead of the three-day weekend in Japan.
The U.S. dollar was last at ¥120.16, compared with ¥119.94 late Thursday in
New York.
Japanese financial markets will be closed on Monday for
health and sports day.
The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average was last up 1.64%. The Shanghai Composite Index was last trading 1.14% higher.
The greenback weakened overnight against a basket of rival currencies after the dovish tone in minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting that showed a group of central bankers remained in doubt whether to raise short-term rates while inflation is low.
“The number of investors betting on the Fed’s inaction this year is increasing,” said Koji Fukaya, chief executive at FPG Securities. “But we still don’t know. We still have to see (U.S.) jobs data twice this year,” said Fukaya.
Yasuaki Amatatsu, senior analyst of global markets research at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ said that “investors find it difficult to make moves, as stock prices are not moving much.”
The dollar was largely flat against the euro which rose
slightly to $1.1279 midday from $1.1276 late Thursday.
The common currency was at ¥135.5299 from ¥135.27.
Mr. Amatatsu at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ said that investors cannot sell or buy the euro based on the ECB minutes.
The minutes of its September policy meeting signaled the ECB officials were aware that that downside risks to inflation deepened over the summer, but still, they needed more time to gauge the impact of financial-market volatility and slower growth in China.
At its Sept. 3 meeting, ECB officials raised the possibility that they would beef up their EUR60 billion ($68 billion) a month bond-buying program.
