By Hiroyuki Kachi
The dollar edged lower against the yen in directionless trading
in Asia on Thursday, as no concrete agreement in trade talks
between the U.S. and Japan appeared forthcoming.
As of 0450 GMT, the greenback was at Y102.30, after slipping to
as low as Y102.25. The U.S. currency was at Y102.55 in late
Wednesday trading in New York.
The U.S. and Japan, the two biggest participants in the
Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative, have been in intensive talks
to reach a broad accord.
Despite Japan's resistance to opening up its small but
politically influential agriculture sector, there were expectations
earlier Thursday that Washington and Tokyo would be able to break
the impasse by concluding an accord in the wake of President Barack
Obama's three-day visit to Japan.
A Japanese newspaper headline early Thursday suggesting the
talks would go through raised expectations and pushed the dollar
slightly higher in late New York trade, said Akira Moroga, manager
of Forex Products Group of Aozora Bank.
But the gain soon dissipated after comments by Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe at a joint news conference with the U.S. president
shortly after noon, he said. Mr. Abe said the U.S. and Japan would
continue minister-level talks on the TPP.
Also putting downward pressure on the U.S. currency was thin
trading on the Nikkei Stock Average, which was down 0.9% in the
early afternoon.
In the absence of fresh cues, investors remained on the
sidelines, awaiting April's consumer price index for the Tokyo area
and nationwide CPI for March, scheduled for release Friday. The
indicators are seen as key gauges of the Bank of Japan's efforts to
stamp out of deflation.
The euro was at $1.3822 from $1.3816 and at Y141.38 from
Y141.67.
The WSJ Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar against a basket
of major currencies, was down 0.08% at 73.05.
Interbank Foreign Exchange Rates At 00:50 EST / 0450 GMT
Latest Previous %Chg Daily Daily %Chg
2150 GMT High Low 12/31
USD/JPY Japan 102.27-28 102.52-55 -0.26 102.57 102.26 -2.88
EUR/USD Euro 1.3822-24 1.3815-19 +0.04 1.3825 1.3816 +0.57
GBP/USD U.K. 1.6787-90 1.6780-84 +0.04 1.6790 1.6778 +1.40
USD/CHF Switzerland 0.8827-31 0.8832-36 -0.06 0.8836 0.8826 -1.14
USD/CAD Canada 1.1025-28 1.1029-34 -0.05 1.1034 1.1026 +3.81
AUD/USD Australia 0.9295-98 0.9289-93 +0.06 0.9301 0.9284 +4.28
NZD/USD New Zealand 0.8624-26 0.8582-88 +0.46 0.8636 0.8586 +4.90
Euro Rate
EUR/JPY Japan 141.36-38 141.65-70 -0.22 141.71 141.34 -2.33
Source: ICAP PLC
Write to Hiroyuki Kachi at Hiroyuki.Kachi@wsj.com