Dollar slides on housing woes
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
TOKYO, Aug 6 (AFP): The dollar dropped to a four-month low against the yen in Asian trade today as renewed weakness in global share prices prompted another bout of unwinding of risky positions, dealers said.
They said weak economic data also weighed on the dollar, while high yielding currencies such as the British pound and the New Zealand dollar were under pressure against the yen due to increased risk aversion.
The dollar fell to as low as 117.18 in early Tokyo trade before recovering to 117.55 yen by afternoon here, down from 118.02 in New York late Friday.
The euro firmed to 1.3812 dollars from 1.3775 but slipped to 162.43 yen from 162.56.
The dollar remained on the backfoot as heavy losses on Wall Street Friday prompted players to buy back the yen as they reduce risky positions funded with cheap Japanese credit, dealers said.
The dollar was also hit by soft US employment and services data. The US economy created 92,000 new jobs in July, the weakest growth since February and sharply below economist consensus forecasts of 135,000.
The numbers fuelled fears that problems in the weak US housing sector are spreading to the labour market, which until recently had been one of the strongest parts of the economy, dealers said.
They said weak economic data also weighed on the dollar, while high yielding currencies such as the British pound and the New Zealand dollar were under pressure against the yen due to increased risk aversion.
The dollar fell to as low as 117.18 in early Tokyo trade before recovering to 117.55 yen by afternoon here, down from 118.02 in New York late Friday.
The euro firmed to 1.3812 dollars from 1.3775 but slipped to 162.43 yen from 162.56.
The dollar remained on the backfoot as heavy losses on Wall Street Friday prompted players to buy back the yen as they reduce risky positions funded with cheap Japanese credit, dealers said.
The dollar was also hit by soft US employment and services data. The US economy created 92,000 new jobs in July, the weakest growth since February and sharply below economist consensus forecasts of 135,000.
The numbers fuelled fears that problems in the weak US housing sector are spreading to the labour market, which until recently had been one of the strongest parts of the economy, dealers said.