Dollar weak on murky US economic data
The dollar moved narrowly against the yen and euro in Asia on Monday amid a mixed bag of US data that failed to give a clear picture of the health of the world's biggest economy.
The dollar fetched 83.43 yen in Tokyo morning trade, almost unchanged from late Friday in New York.
The euro bought $1.3165, a shade lower than $1.3175 in New York. Against the Japanese unit, the euro briefly topped 110 yen for the first time since October last year before easing slightly to 109.92 yen, against 109.82 yen in New York.
On Friday, the dollar slipped against a string of major currencies on the mixed data.
The drop 'will likely herald a cautious start to the week and intense interest on speeches' from Federal Reserve Bank of New York president William Dudley and Fed chief Ben Bernanke later in the week, National Australia Bank said in a note Monday.
Market players were waiting for a string of US housing data due to be released later in the week after a batch of figures released last week dampened hopes that the US economic recovery was gaining strength.
The dollar was likely to find firm support around the 82.00-83.00 yen mark and could test the 85 yen level this week if the data show better-than-expected results, said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief forex strategist at Barclays Capital.
"Such a case will reinforce the scenario of decreasing downside risks in the US economy," Yamamoto told Dow Jones Newswires.
US data last week showed a petrol-driven pickup in inflation in February, only modest growth in manufacturing for the last two months and an unexpected fall in consumer confidence.
But new claims for US unemployment benefits fell more than expected.
The economy created 227,000 new jobs in February, topping the 200,000 mark for the third straight month, while the unemployment rate held steady at 8.3 per cent, the Labour Department reported.
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