Dollar Slightly Up Against Yen Ahead of BOJ Kuroda Comments

 
   By Hiroyuki Kachi 
 

        The dollar was a tad higher against the yen in Asia trade Friday, with investors sitting on the sidelines amid a lack of fresh trading cues ahead of a Bank of Japan news conference later in the afternoon.
        Around 0450 GMT, the greenback was at Y123.05, compared with Y122.96 late Thursday in New York.
        The U.S. dollar digested a mixture of selling and buying related to commercial trade settlements by Japanese corporate investors early Friday, but remained directionless around the Y123 mark after that.
        As widely expected, the central bank's board voted 8-1 Friday to stick with its asset purchases at an annual pace of Y80 trillion, in a sign that the bank remains confident of hitting its 2% inflation target by autumn of next year.
        Investors are now shifting their focus on BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's news conference scheduled for 0630 GMT, and in particular, any comments he makes about the yen. After Mr. Kuroda clarified controversial remarks he made last week about the Japanese currency, few surprises are expected, however.
        "Those comments are what we will be paying the greatest attention to," said Minori Uchida, head of Tokyo global markets research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
        Last week, Mr. Kuroda's comment that a measure of the yen's relative value against other currencies was unlikely to weaken further jolted the market by causing the dollar to fall roughly Y2 from around Y124.60. Mr. Kuroda said earlier this week he was neither trying to assess the nominal exchange rate of the yen nor forecast its future movement.
        Still, Mr. Uchida said "that is an indisputable change in stance," for Mr. Kuroda who had been saying a weaker yen is a plus to the economy since summer last year. Mr. Uchida said there seemed to been a toning down of the expressions used by Mr. Kuroda after the market's huge reaction.
        The euro was flat at $1.1360 from $1.1359 amid uncertainties over the Greek bailout deal. It edged up against the yen to Y139.80 from Y139.72.
        Eurozone leaders will try to clinch a deal on Greece's flailing bailout at a hastily called crisis summit Monday, after finance ministers failed again to bridge the gap between Athens and its lenders.
        The WSJ Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies, was up 0.05% at 85.66.
        Write to Hiroyuki Kachi at Hiroyuki.Kachi@wsj.com
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        June 19, 2015 01:36 ET (05:36 GMT)

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