The dollar slipped against the yen Friday in Asia but held firm as investors cheered a decline in oil prices, AP reported. The July crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit a record over US$135 a barrel on Thursday before later falling back around US$4. «The dollar moved in a narrow range but held steady on positive factors such as a fall in oil prices and overnight gains on Wall Street,» said Hidekazu Tsujimoto, a dealer at Mizuho Bank. The greenback was quoted at 104.06 yen midafternoon in Tokyo, slightly down from 104.14 yen in New York late Thursday. In electronic trading, the July crude oil contract on Nymex was around US$131.50 a barrel midafternoon in Singapore. Meanwhile, the euro was quoted at US$1.5738 midafternoon in Tokyo, up from US$1.5724 in New York. In other Asian currencies, the dollar was quoted at 32.08 to the Thai baht, up from 31.92, and at US$1.3601 to the Singapore dollar, down from US$1.3606.
