Dollar falls versus yen in Asia

 

 

The dollar fell against the yen on Friday in Asia, with Japanese exporters selling the US currency as lackluster data on machinery orders in Japan pushed down stock prices.

 

The dollar-selling by the exporters encouraged short-term investors to buy the yen, but the decline in the greenback was limited ahead of this weekend’s Group of Seven meeting.

 

The dollar was trading at 107.39 yen midafternoon in Tokyo, down from 107.42 yen late Thursday in New York. The euro rose to $1.4484 from $1.4459.

 

Machinery orders for December fell 3.2 per cent on month, darkening the outlook for Japan’s capital investment. The drop was more than the 0.8 per cent expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones and Nikkei, and helped push the Nikkei 225 stock index down 1.4 per cent.

 

Still, many players chose to stay on the sidelines ahead of Saturday’s G-7 meeting of finance ministers in Tokyo. The greenback is unlikely to move much for now, traders said.

 

While market players do not expect any change to the G-7’s stance regarding foreign exchange rates, “they will still look out for comments on subprime-related issues and possible agreements toward steps to secure market stability,” said Shuichi Kanehira, a senior trader at Mizuho Corporate Bank.

 

The G-7 is made up of the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Canada.

 

Against other currencies, the dollar was mostly higher. It rose 0.92 per cent against the Philippine peso to 40.635. It fell 0.02 per cent against the Indonesian rupiah to 9,240. (AP)