Dollar falls in Asia ahead of finance meeting

The dollar dipped slightly in Asia Friday on expectations that a weekend meeting of finance officials from the Group of Seven industrialized economies won't focus on the slipping yen.

The dollar was trading at 118.74 yen midafternoon, down from 119.05 yen late Thursday in New York. The euro rose to US$1.3512 from US$1.3489.

"The market consensus is that the yen weakness won't become a topic at the G7 meeting and it may not have a huge impact on the spot market anymore," said Satoshi Okagawa, head of the foreign exchange forward trading group at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Traders said the dollar will likely trade between 118.6 yen to 119.15 yen for the rest of the day.

"It's not that the dollar is aggressively sold but rather that players are shifting to currencies with a clear positive economic outlook such as the euro and the Australian dollar, which is pushing the dollar down," said Masashi Kurabe, senior trader at the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ.

The G7 officials are meeting in Washington D.C. over the weekend.

The dollar was mixed against other regional currencies, gaining to 47.925 Philippine peso from 47.750 the previous session, while falling to 930.4 South Korean won from 931.8. It dropped to 9,108 Indonesian rupiah from 9,113.