U.S. dollar moves as high as 117.49 yen earlier in the session

The dollar slipped against the yen Friday in Asia after initially rising moderately on the back of recent strong U.S. economic data and stable stocks prices.

Photo: U.S. dollar moves as high as 117.49 yen earlier in the session

The U.S. dollar moved as high as 117.49 yen earlier in the session. The greenback was trading at 117.16 yen midafternoon, down from 117.21 yen late Thursday in New York.

The euro rose to US$1.4194 to US$1.4188.

"Investors may sell the dollar once exporters come in to block the dollar's rally," said Jun Kato, a senior dealer at Shinkin Central Bank.

Players were awaiting U.S. retail sales data for September before making their next move. Kato and other Tokyo dealers said that if the result is weaker than expected, that could prompt them to cut dollar-long positions they have built this week.

U.S. September retail sales excluding autos were tipped to rise 0.3 percent, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.

Traders said they would be watching the outcome of the meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs in Washington on Oct. 19.

Meanwhile, traders said the risk of a U.S. economic slowdown hasn't faded away despite some recent rosy U.S. economic indicators, including better-than-expected jobs data.

"What we want to see is November and December data since they may reveal the aftermath of the subprime crisis," said Kato. "While players can't expect the Federal Reserve to cut its rates later this month, there's a good chance that would happen within this year."

Against other regional currencies, the dollar was mostly higher, rising to 1.4650 Singapore dollars from 1.4636 the previous day, and to 39.325 Indian rupees from 39.14. It fell 7.7534 Hong Kong dollars from 7.7544, however.