Dollar loses steam as rebound sparks selling
TOKYO - The dollar lost steam in Asia on Monday as Japanese exporters moved to sell the greenback following its sharp rebound on strong US jobs data, dealers said.
The dollar was changing hands at 89.99 yen in Tokyo morning trade, down from 90.47 yen in New York late Friday.
The euro rose to 1.4885 dollars from 1.4852 dollars while falling to 134.01 yen from 134.48 yen.
"The dollar's rebound was stemmed as export companies are selling," Resona Bank dealer Masatoshi Omata said.
"They had been seeking opportunities to sell dollars and finally saw the dollar's rebound," he said, adding that the greenback was likely to stay weak with US interest rates expected to stay low for some time.
The dollar fell to its lowest level in 14 years against the yen in late November, dampening the earnings outlook of Japanese exporters whose overseas income would be eroded by the strong yen when repatriated.
The dollar shot up in New York on Friday after strong jobs data cheered investors who saw it as a sign of US economic recovery.
Official data showed the US labor market witnessed a dramatic improvement in November as the number of jobs lost narrowed to 11,000 and the unemployment rate dipped to 10.0 percent.
But Omata said "this one-off pickup in employment will not lead to an immediate rate hike" by the Federal Reserve.
"The dollar will likely stay weak although market players may not aggressively push with dollar selling" in the face of monetary authorities' threat to act to curb currency volatility, he said.