On Monday the greenback was moderately higher against the yen in
Asia, supported by a bout of buying early in the session that
ultimately failed to gather wider momentum.
Compared with 119.25 yen late Friday in New York, the greenback was at 119.62 yen Monday.
The dollar neared ¥119.40 earlier in the session, continuing the weak tone from late Friday when U.S. consumer confidence and industrial production reports showed downbeat numbers.
A relatively large amount of the dollar buying orders from Japanese corporate investors then boosted the dollar pushing it to ¥119.76.
“It seems there were some big buyers,” probably Japanese importers among others, said a Japanese bank dealer. But the buying failed to drive a move wider in scope. “I don’t feel the dollar-yen pair has its own catalyst for a move,” the dealer said.
Until the U.S. economy shows clear signs of stepping out of an economic slowdown, the dollar is likely to find it top heavy when it comes to 120 yen mark, said FPG Securities chief executive Koji Fukaya in a report.
Market players now wait for indicators such as U.S. residential construction data Tuesday and the release of Federal Open Market Committee minutes Wednesday.
Investors also expect Japanese gross domestic product
figures for January-March due on Wednesday and a Bank of Japan policy
setting meeting set to conclude Friday.
Elsewhere in the currency market, the euro declined to $1.1441 from $1.1450; and was at 136.87 yen from 136.69 yen.
