SINGAPORE -- The yen held steady against the dollar in quiet pre-Christmas Asian trading on Tuesday after Japan's economic woes worsened.

The dollar was at 90.24 yen against 90.25 yen in New York late Monday, while the euro rose to $1.3992 from $1.3944.

Tokyo markets were closed for a public holiday and were to reopen on Wednesday. Trading was light ahead of Christmas on Thursday.

The yen is down from last week's 13-year highs below the key 90-yen level.

Emmanuel Ng, a currency economist with OCBC bank, said the yen was still under some pressure from developments on Monday, when data showed a record drop in Japanese exports and the government said for the first time in nearly seven years that the economy was getting worse.

"I think that's giving a little bit of support to the dollar-yen itself," Ng said.

Japan said exports fell at their fastest-ever rate in November because of the global recession and the strong yen, which makes Japanese goods less competitive.

The trade deficit, which was larger than a market average forecast of 208 billion yen, reversed a surplus of 784.4 billion yen a year earlier.

"I think markets recognize that if the yen continues to strengthen that's going to impact the Japanese exports even more," Ng said.

Japan's government said in a monthly report that the economy is worsening, the first time it has used such negative language since February 2002.

The euro made record gains against the dollar last week after the US Federal Reserve said it was slashing interest rates to near zero.

Ng said that while there was euro buying on dollar weakness for the moment, he was hesitant to see much near-future strength in the major currencies given the global economic slowdown.

"It's not an 'all's well that ends well' story for the global economy," Ng said.

Boris Schlossberg, at Global Forex Trading, said that while yield considerations would continue to favor the euro for the time being, "the question of just how long it can maintain its advantage remains to be seen."

Markets are expected to be watching more Japanese data due out this week as well as key US growth figures to be released later Tuesday.