Dollar rises in Asia on Greek woes, Japan outlook
AP FILE PHOTO
TOKYO–The dollar rose against the euro and yen in Asia on Friday, backed by fresh concerns over Greece and dire outlooks for major Japanese companies.
The greenback was up to 80.27 yen in Tokyo morning trade from 80.13 yen in New York late Thursday.
The euro edged down to $1.2927 from $1.2940 in US trade while rising to 103.78 yen from 103.69 yen.
The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that negotiations between Greece and international lenders for desperately-needed rescue funds were stuck, sending Greek stocks plunging five percent.
News on Greece “may well vie with the US elections in terms of market significance” next week, National Australia Bank said in a note.
The dollar also rose against the yen three days after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) took fresh easing steps, which initially sparked selling of the greenback.
National Australia Bank said it was a little surprised “to see dollar-yen trading back on an 80-yen handle this morning so soon after the post-BoJ meeting sell-off on Tuesday”.
“Rather, company-specific news may be at play,” after major Japanese electronics makers unveiled dire business outlooks, it said.
Sharp nearly doubled its loss forecast to a record $5.6 billion on Thursday, just a day after Panasonic said it would lose an eye-watering $9.6 billion in the year to March.
Sony said it expected to lose $1 billion on its TV business this fiscal year.
“The impression of the Japanese authorities ‘fiddling while the economy burns’ is hard to escape, but dire company news may now be doing more to help the cause of a weaker yen than policy makers ever can,” the bank said in a note.
For more trading pegs market players are waiting for monthly US jobs data later in the day after mostly positive US economic data Thursday lifted stock market sentiment.
