TOKYO: The U.S. dollar traded in the mid-119 yen zone on Friday morning in Tokyo, after soft U.S. housing data dented traders’ expectations of an early U.S. interest rate hike.
At noon, the dollar fetched 119.54-55 yen compared with 119.53-63 yen in New York and 119.87-88 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Thursday.
The euro was quoted at $1.0796-0797 and 129.06-07 yen against $1.0818-0828 and 129.36-46 yen in New York and $1.0683-0685 and 128.06-10 yen in Tokyo late Thursday afternoon.
The dollar moved narrowly against the yen in Tokyo amid a lack of fresh trading incentives, having slid from around the 120 yen line overnight in New York as U.S. new home sales in March dropped 11.4 percent from February’s revised numbers.
The figure added to a recent run of soft data dimming expectations the Federal Reserve will raise U.S. interest rates this year, set to underpin the dollar against the yen, said Junya Tanase, chief foreign exchange-emerging market strategist at JPMorgan Chase Bank.
