Dollar costs 115.34 yen, euro - USD1.4470

The dollar rose slightly against the yen in Asia Thursday as traders remained cautious on prospects for the U.S. economy.

Photo: Dollar costs 115.34 yen, euro - USD1.4470

The U.S. Federal Reserve's statement after it cut the fed funds rate Wednesday suggested more cuts may not come soon. That helped lift the dollar higher, but many traders soon headed for the sidelines as they waited for more data to assess the U.S. economy.

The dollar was trading at 115.34 yen midafternoon Thursday, up from 115.31 yen late Wednesday in New York. The euro fell to US$1.4470 from US$1.4503.

U.S. employment data is due Friday, and several other indicators are due later Thursday, including September pending home sales.

"Subprime mortgage market jitters aren't over and players are still nervous when it comes to housing market-related data," said Masanobu Ishikawa, foreign exchange general manager at Tokyo Forex and Ueda Harlow.

Other figures due include the report on the U.S. personal income and spending survey for September. That will give the monthly level of the core personal consumption expenditures deflator, which is used by the Fed to assess inflationary risks.

After the rate decision and statement by the Fed, if the "deflator turn out stronger than expected, this could further weaken speculation over future rate cuts and lead to dollar-buying against the euro," said Masafumi Yamamoto, currency strategist with Nikko Citigroup.

Traders were taking some profit from the recent euro gains ahead of the jobs data, dealers said. The euro has broken its all-time high against the dollar in four previous sessions, reaching US$1.4508.

"The euro is falling a tad now on some position adjustments but overall, the currency remains strong and is very likely to rise to another record-high against the dollar soon," said Ishikawa.

Against other Asian currencies, the dollar was mixed. It rose 0.32 percent against the Indian rupee to 39.312; it fell 0.11 percent against the Indonesian rupiah to 9,082.