August 8, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 28,1423

TOKYO, Aug 7: The dollar was rangebound in Tokyo on Wednesday, generally holding onto recent gains against major currencies supported by a sharp rebound on Wall Street.

However dealers said investors remained wary about the sustainability of the dollar’s renewed strength.

The greenback swapped hands at 120.75-78 yen at 5:00 pm (0800 GMT) against 120.86-90 yen in New York and

120.44-47 yen in Tokyo late Tuesday.

The US unit reached an intraday high of 121.10 in the morning but eased through the afternoon as investors took profits and “took a break after the currency moved massively yesterday,” said Yoshitaka Noumi, dealer at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.

The euro bought 0.9677-80 dollars, compared with 0.9671-73 dollars in New York and 0.9714-17 in Tokyo late Tuesday.

“(Domestic investors) don’t believe the current strong dollar is continuing. It’s just a temporary correction of dollar-short positions,” said Hidehiko Inamura, vice-president of foreign exchange at Citibank.

“There’s no interest to buy from here. There are (exporter) sell orders for increased hedging and maybe to sell assets because of liquidation of mutual funds,” Inamura said.—AFP