The dollar was little changed against the yen Friday in Asia despite buying by Japanese importers, as many investors held back ahead of U.S. employment data due later the same day, AP reported. The dollar was trading at 119.17 yen midafternoon, up from 119.10 yen late Thursday in New York. The euro rose to US$1.3709 from US$1.3693. Traders were cautious, believing weak jobs figures could knock U.S. stocks lower, reflecting the risk aversion that could prompt investors to unwind a wide range of investments, including bets on yen falls, dealers said. A drop in U.S. share prices could push the U.S. currency to 118.20 yen, said Osao Iizuka, head of foreign-exchange trading at Sumitomo Trust & Banking. «Currently, the currency markets are taking cues from the stock markets,» Iizuka said. «The focus is not on actual employment figures but how the stock market will react to them. If share prices take a dive, there could be another round of unwinding of yen carry trades.» The Japanese currency usually climbs when traders offload yen-carry trades, as they buy the currency to pay off the yen they've borrowed to invest in more attractive assets outside Japan. Meanwhile, concerns over continuing problems with U.S. subprime home loans are adding to traders' doubts about the dollar's upside potential. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires forecast that U.S. employers excluding farmers hired a net 130,000 workers in July, after adding 132,000 people to payrolls in June. During Friday trading in Asia, Japanese importers bought the U.S. currency to settle international trades, traders said. An earlier rise in Japanese stock prices also prompted a handful of non-Japanese speculators to buy the dollar as well, cooling expectations for equity-driven yen buying, they said. When the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average Index fell into negative territory later, however, speculators turned around and sold off the dollar. Against other regional currencies, the dollar was mixed, rising to 7.8285 Hong Kong dollars from 7.8278, and to 1.5187 Singapore dollars from 1.5174. It fell to 3.4645 Malaysian ringgit from 3.4690, and to 922.0 South Korean won from 922.8.
