The dollar eased to around ¥109.70 in Tokyo on Monday, weighed on by a stock fall and selling on real demand.
At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥109.72, down from ¥109.89 at the same time Friday. The euro was at $1.2190, almost unchanged from $1.2187, and at ¥133.75, down from ¥133.92.
The dollar traded around ¥109.90 in the early morning, thanks to buying stemming from its climb above ¥110 in overseas trading Friday in response to a faster-than-expected rise in the U.S. personal consumption expenditure price index for April, a closely watched inflation indicator.
But the U.S. currency fell past ¥109.70 in midmorning trading amid swelling risk-averse sentiment following the 225-issue Nikkei average’s fallback. The greenback also suffered month-end selling by Japanese exporters, traders said.
The dollar later went sideways largely between ¥109.65 and ¥109.75 due to a dearth of market-moving events during a three-day weekend through Monday in the United States and Britain.
Players hope to take trading cues from key U.S. economic indicators to be released this week, notably the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing and services indexes, due out Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, and the Labor Department’s employment report, on Friday.
“Those data may fuel speculation about when the U.S. Federal Reserve will start asset purchase tapering,” a currency broker said.
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