The dollar on Monday crept up above ¥109.55 in lackluster Tokyo trading.
At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥109.57-57, up from ¥109.53-53 at the same time Friday. The euro was at $1.1196-1197, up from $1.1188-1188, and at ¥122.68-68, up from ¥122.54-55.
The dollar firmed in late trading after fluctuating mostly around ¥109.45 amid a dearth of fresh trading incentives, traders said.
“The dollar-yen pair reacted little to the day’s Japan-U.S. summit, as investors had neither pinned hope on nor been vigilant against the talks,” said an official at a major Japanese bank.
Trading will become active after the three-day weekend through Monday is over in the United States and Britain, a major brokerage firm official said.
A think tank analyst called for caution against boosted yen buying vis-a-vis the dollar after the release of Chinese manufacturing data on Friday, saying it “will not be surprising” if the manufacturing PMI for May drops below the boom-or-bust threshold of 50 amid the escalating trade conflict with the United States.
