Dollar falls on worries over US economy
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
TOKYO, Sept 10 (AFP): The dollar suffered fresh losses in Asian trade today after a surprise fall in US employment raised concerns that the world's largest economy is rapidly losing steam, dealers said.
The dollar fell below 113 yen for the first time in about three weeks before recovering some ground, dipping to as low as 112.59 yen.
By mid-afternoon in Tokyo the greenback stood at 113.14 yen, down from 113.47 in New York late Friday when the weak US jobs data had sent the greenback skidding lower.
The euro rose to 1.3783 dollars from 1.3769 but fell to 155.93 yen from 156.27.
"The market mood is dollar-negative as US data released over the past week were sluggish," said Kenichi Yumoto, vice president of forex sales and trading at Societe Generale in Tokyo.
The focus was likely to remain on the United States given concerns about the fallout from problems in the US housing sector, he said.
Japan's economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the three months to June from the previous quarter, worse than an initial estimate of growth of 0.1 per cent.
The dollar edged up to 1.5250 Singapore dollars from 1.5245 a day earlier, to 9,413.5 Indonesian rupiah from 9,400.5, to 939.20 South Korean won from 937.85 and to 46.67 Philippine pesos from 46.58.
The greenback was stable at 32.54 Thai baht and at 33.07 Taiwan dollars.
The dollar fell below 113 yen for the first time in about three weeks before recovering some ground, dipping to as low as 112.59 yen.
By mid-afternoon in Tokyo the greenback stood at 113.14 yen, down from 113.47 in New York late Friday when the weak US jobs data had sent the greenback skidding lower.
The euro rose to 1.3783 dollars from 1.3769 but fell to 155.93 yen from 156.27.
"The market mood is dollar-negative as US data released over the past week were sluggish," said Kenichi Yumoto, vice president of forex sales and trading at Societe Generale in Tokyo.
The focus was likely to remain on the United States given concerns about the fallout from problems in the US housing sector, he said.
Japan's economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the three months to June from the previous quarter, worse than an initial estimate of growth of 0.1 per cent.
The dollar edged up to 1.5250 Singapore dollars from 1.5245 a day earlier, to 9,413.5 Indonesian rupiah from 9,400.5, to 939.20 South Korean won from 937.85 and to 46.67 Philippine pesos from 46.58.
The greenback was stable at 32.54 Thai baht and at 33.07 Taiwan dollars.