Nervous traders sell euro in Asian trade

TOKYO – The euro slipped in Asian trade on Monday amid global growth concerns while the dollar rebounded from losses at the end of last week following a dismal jobs report.

The European single currency was changing hands at $1.2389 in Tokyo, down from $1.2423 in New York late Friday, while it also bought 96.83 yen, down from 97.01 yen in New York.

The dollar was up at 78.15 yen, from 78.08 yen on Friday.

The greenback slipped against major currencies in New York on Friday, after Washington released figures showing the economy added only 69,000 jobs in May, the smallest rise since May last year, while unemployment rate edged up to 8.2 percent.

“The market is very nervous,” Minori Uchida, chief analyst at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, told Dow Jones Newswires, adding dealers were on alert for a potential intervention by Japan’s finance ministry.

Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign exchange strategy at Credit Agricole, said the weaker-than-expected jobs figures raised the prospect of the Federal Reserve announcing monetary easing.

While Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is unlikely to support such action in public comments this week, the market will still speculate on this option, Kotecha said.

“Consequently the dollar one way bet is no longer so clear-cut, despite the elevated level of risk aversion providing some support for the currency,” he said.

The greenback will struggle to make too much headway ahead of Bernanke’s testimony to a US congressional committee on Thursday, leaving the currency to consolidate its gains in the short term, he said.

“Other US data releases this week are inconsequential for forex markets although the Fed’s Beige Book will be watched for clues ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on June 19-20,” Kotecha said.