Dollar Slightly Lower Against Yen on Profit Taking

 
   By Hiroyuki Kachi 
 

        The dollar was a tad lower against the yen in Asian trade Tuesday, with the Japanese stock market's weakness encouraging investors to lock in profits after gains from robust U.S. jobs data Friday.
        Around 0450 GMT, the dollar was down to Y118.49 compared with Y118.58 late Monday in New York.
        The greenback lost ground in the morning, as the Nikkei Stock Average extended its losses and uncertainties grew over the Greek situation and tension over Ukraine, which prompted buying of the safe-haven yen.
        "Profit taking continues to dominate the market" after huge gains on the jobs report, said Kyosuke Suzuki, head of the FX and money market sales department at Societe Generale, adding that the greenback is having a hard time going higher as investors become aware of technical resistance just above Y119.
        "There are no fresh incentives to push the dollar higher, but there is no drive to sell the dollar after upbeat U.S. jobs data either," said Kumiko Ishikawa, analyst at Gaitame.Com Research Institute.
        In addition, it is still too early to call risk aversion from the Greek situation serious enough to rush into buying of the yen, she said.
        "There are few incentives to prompt investors to make major moves," at least up until the release of the U.S. retail sales data for January scheduled on Thursday, said Ms. Ishikawa, who expects the dollar will likely move in a Y117.50-Y119.50 range for the rest of the week.
        Societe Generale's Mr. Suzuki said the dollar will likely show positive reaction a strong retail data and the focus is on whether the U.S. currency can break above its recent high of Y119.23.
        Greece's new government said it would cancel about a third of the debt-reduction and economic-overhaul measures the country had signed on to as a condition for international aid, while Germany showed no sign of backing off its insistence on the current bailout terms.
        Meanwhile, President Barack Obama said he wouldn't decide whether to supply weapons to Ukraine until European leaders exhaust one last diplomatic effort to resolve the conflict there.
        Among other currency pairs, the euro was at $1.1332 from $1.1323 and was at Y134.27 from Y134.31.
        The WSJ Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies, was up down 0.11% at 85.53.
        Write to Hiroyuki Kachi at Hiroyuki.Kachi@wsj.com
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        February 10, 2015 00:39 ET (05:39 GMT)

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