By Hiroyuki Kachi
The dollar was a tad higher against the yen but moderately fell
against the euro in Asia trade Thursday, as investors largely kept
a wait-and-see stance ahead of the release of U.S. jobs data later
in the day.
Around 0450 GMT, the dollar was higher at Y123.35, compared with
Y123.17 late Wednesday in New York. The U.S. currency, however,
weakened against the euro on short covering, with the common
currency changing hands at $1.1072, compared with $1.1053
overnight.
With no signs of progress in Greek bailout talks ahead of
Sunday's referendum on eurozone bailout conditions, investors are
now shifting their focus back to U.S. fundamentals to shape their
views on the likely timing for the Federal Reserve to raise
short-term rates.
On Wednesday, Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that
Greeks backing bailout terms demanded by the country's
international creditors at a coming referendum are "accomplices" to
those looking to continue austerity in the crisis-hit nation. Mr.
Tsipras also blamed international creditors for the country's
decision to shut down banks earlier this week.
Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Wednesday there are no
grounds for further talks on Greece at this point.
"Market sentiment is slightly biased upward," on
better-than-expected U.S. ADP jobs and ISM manufacturing numbers
overnight, said Shinichiro Kadota, vice president of research at
Barclays in Tokyo. In addition, there are deep-seated views among
market players that Greeks will back the eurozone bailout
conditions at Sunday's referendum.
But "investors found it difficult to make moves ahead of the
jobs data," said Mr. Kadota. "If the pair stays around its current
level, I guess I have to say there's a possibility" of the pair
reaching Y124 after a strong jobs report. But he said he's not sure
if the market will fully react to the data in the usual way due to
the Greek issue.
Barclays expects nonfarm payrolls grew by 250,000 in June,
better than a market consensus for 233,000.
Still, some participants warned about taking strong positions
ahead of a three-day weekend in the U.S. and the Greek referendum
on Sunday, with many investors poised to close out their positions
beforehand.
"It's impossible to take lopsided positions," ahead of the
weekend for fears about risk aversion and the resultant yen buying
potentially kicking in on Monday depending on the results of the
Greek referendum, said Yasuaki Amatatsu, senior analyst of global
markets research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
In other currency pairs, the euro was at Y136.53 from
Y136.14.
The WSJ Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar against a basket
of major currencies, was down 0.04% at 87.15.
Interbank Foreign Exchange Rates At 00:50 EST / 0450 GMT
Latest Previous %Chg Daily Daily %Chg
Dollar Rates Close High Low 12/31
USD/JPY Japan 123.35-36 123.17-18 +0.15 123.48 123.15 +3.03
EUR/USD Euro 1.1072-75 1.1052-55 +0.18 1.1079 1.1037 -8.47
GBP/USD U.K. 1.5615-17 1.5617-19 -0.01 1.5620 1.5598 +0.24
USD/CHF Switzerland 0.9461-65 0.9482-86 -0.22 0.9490 0.9460 -4.83
USD/CAD Canada 1.2582-87 1.2588-93 -0.05 1.2598 1.2581 +8.29
AUD/USD Australia 0.7650-54 0.7644-48 +0.08 0.7657 0.7629 -6.35
NZD/USD New Zealand 0.6702-08 0.6734-40 -0.47 0.6739 0.6695 -13.98
Euro Rate
EUR/JPY Japan 136.56-60 136.13-17 +0.32 136.65 136.05 -5.77
Source: ICAP PLC
Write to Hiroyuki Kachi at Hiroyuki.Kachi@wsj.com