Dollar holds firm against yen in Asia

AFP FILE PHOTO

TOKYO – The dollar consolidated its gains against the Japanese yen in Asian trade on Monday after a stronger-than-expected US jobs report offset concerns about the possible phase-out of the Fed’s monetary easing programme, analysts said.

The greenback rose against the Japanese unit to 101.24 yen from 101.14 late Friday in New York.

The single currency was changing hands at $1.2822 and 129.82 yen in Monday morning trade, compared with $1.2832 and 129.78 yen in New York Friday.

“With Tokyo stocks likely to firm, the pair could be testing higher ground,” Daisaku Ueno, senior forex strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The Bank of Japan will hold its policy board meeting later in the week, but Ueno said no new easing measures were likely to be announced.

“Focus will rather be on what BoJ governor (Haruhiko) Kuroda will have to say at his post-meeting presser,” he said.

On Wall Street Friday, the dollar powered higher, sparked by the June US employment report from the Labor Department, which showed better-than-expected jobs creation, 195,000 net new positions, for a solid second quarter.

That added to expectations the Federal Reserve would begin reeling in its quantitative easing (QE) stimulus programme later this year and that higher dollar interest rates were in view in the medium term.

Bond yields shot up: the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.72 percent from 2.50 percent while the 30-year bond pushed to 3.68 percent from 3.50 percent.

A weaker yen helps Japanese manufacturers sell products cheaper overseas.