TOKYO, Oct 5: The dollar was rangebound against major currencies on Friday ahead of United States jobs data and a Group of Seven (G7) meeting of finance ministers and central bankers, dealers said.
A national holiday in the US and Japan on Monday next week also left investors reluctant to take speculative positions, they said.
The greenback traded at 120.51-53 unchanged from New York late Thursday but up slightly from 120.34-37 yen in Tokyo.
The euro bought 0.9181-83 dollars, compared with 0.9173-75 dollars in New York and $0.9142-45 in Tokyo late Thursday.
The market is very quiet... with people waiting for US employment figures due out tonight... and we see the G7 meeting this weekend so no-one is making speculative deals, said Sanwa Bank foreign exchange vice president Mitsuru Sahara.
US employment data due out later in the day was expected to reflect the impact of last month’s terrorist attacks, keeping traders nervous about the dollar.
Dollar sentiment is worse, Sahara said.
A key meeting between financial chiefs of the world’s seven industrialised nations in Washington at the weekend also kept investors sidelined, although little new was expected to emerge from the talks.
The Japanese finance ministry has repeatedly instructed the BoJ to intervene in the market after the US currency plunged to the 116-yen level in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
If the Japanese unit slips again, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa has made it clear he would not hesitate to take further action regardless of the stance adopted by other nations at the G7 meeting.
National holidays in the world’s two largest economies Monday meant overall trade was quiet, dealers said.
Next Monday is a holiday in Japan, Canada and the US, so dealers are just squaring their own positions, said Sanwa’s Sahara.
Meanwhile against the yen, the euro was quoted at 110.67 compared with 110.55 in New York and 110.03 in Tokyo late Thursday.
In late Singapore trade, the dollar was up at 9,815 Indonesian rupiah from 9,725 on Thursday, 1,7856 Singapore dollars from 1.7776 and 44.725 Thai baht from 44.64.
The greenback was steady against the Philippine peso at 51.55, and down at 1,311.25 South Korean won from 1,313, and 34.5555 Taiwan dollars from 34.5645. —AFP
