Dollar seesaws against the yen ahead of G7 finance chiefs' meeting

The dollar seesawed against the yen in Asia Friday amid expectations that the Japanese currency's weakness may be on the agenda at next week's meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs.

Photo: Dollar seesaws against the yen ahead of G7 finance chiefs' meeting

The dollar was trading at 120.90 yen at 5:50 p.m. (0850 GMT) Friday, up from 120.66 yen late Thursday in New York. The euro declined to US$1.3020, from US$1.3025.

The dollar fluctuated throughout the day as Japanese exporters sold the currency and U.S. speculators bought yen, underscoring expectations that calls for a stronger yen may be on the table when the G7 finance chiefs meet in Germany next week.

But some players also appeared pessimistic about the yen's longer-term outlook, helping to drive the currency back down.

Hideaki Inoue, chief foreign-exchange manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, said that while the dollar seemed a little weak for now, the currency's overall uptrend against the yen is expected to persist, as there is no change in the root cause of yen weakness: Japan's low interest rates.

Tohru Sasaki, chief foreign-exchange strategist at JPMorgan Chase Bank in Tokyo, was even bullish about the dollar's near-term prospects. The currency's limited declines overnight despite feeble overnight economic data, he said, highlighted its underlying strength, reports AP.

If the U.S. employment data and other indicators beat forecasts later in the day, "that could lead to relatively big rises in the dollar" versus other currencies, Sasaki said.

The dollar was mostly higher against other Asian currencies, rising to 44.111 Indian rupees from 44.020 and to 32.914 Taiwan dollars from 32.855. It fell to 9,076 Indonesian rupiah from 9,082.