December 7, 2001	Friday	Ramazan 21, 1422

TOKYO, Dec 6: The yen fell against the dollar Thursday on reports a Japanese construction firm filed for court protection from creditors under a mountain of debt, dealers said.

It traded at 124.65-68 to the dollar down from 124.14 to the dollar in New York and 124.10-13 to the dollar in Tokyo late Wednesday.

The Japanese currency was firm earlier, due to the strong performance of Japanese stocks, touching 123.75 to the dollar at one point.

But the trend suddenly reversed in the middle of the day, after news reports said Aoki Corp. was going to file for bankruptcy, said Fuji Bank dealer Hideyuki Tsukamoto.

The news triggered fears among investors that the failure might affect the financial sector, which has struggled to process a mountain of bad loans.

Probably Aoki’s reported failure reminded investors that Japan’s financial sector is very weak and has no means to help weak firms.

Middle-sized builder Aoki fell victim to Japan’s economic slump, filing for court protection from creditors with about $4.35 billion in liabilities.

A dealer at a US bank said fear is deepening that more construction firms will follow suit.

There is renewed concern in the forex market over (the health of) Japan’s financial sector, said the dealer, adding Aoki’s collapse would not impact Japanese banks significantly.

Asahi Bank Ltd., one of Aoki’s main lenders, said it does not expect any impact on the bank’s year to March 2002 earnings.

The euro bought $0.8875-78 against $0.8883 in New York and $0.8930-33 in Tokyo late Wednesday.

The euro traded in a tight range ahead of a meeting by the European Central Bank later in the day, dealers in Singapore said.

It’s a narrow range we are looking at since the market is expecting no change in the interest rates, said a BNP Paribas dealer.

Against the yen, the euro was quoted at 110.67 compared with 110.17 in New York and 110.85 in Tokyo Wednesday afternoon.

In late Singapore trade, the dollar fell to 43.855 Thai baht from 43.965 on Wednesday, 1.8349 Singapore dollars from 1.8352, and 10,425 Indonesian rupiah from 10,483.

It rose to 34.449 Taiwan dollars from 34.442, 1,274 South Korean won from 1,271 and was unchanged at 51.96 Philippine pesos.—AFP