The dollar inched down against the yen Wednesday afternoon as foreign investors bought back the Japanese currency on bargain-hunting, dealers said.
The yen had fallen earlier on disappointing Japanese industrial output data.
"Foreign investors mainly were selling the dollar, buying the yen in order to adjust their positions," Sanwa Bank dealer Hiroaki Nakaoka said.
The US currency traded at 106.14-15 yen at 2:00 p.m. (0500 GMT), down from 106.18 in New York Tuesday afternoon and 106.63 yen here late Tuesday.
In early trading, investors had reacted negatively to a 0.7-percent decline in Japan's July industrial output, worse than expected.
The figure is closely tracked as an indicator of Japanese economic health going forward.
But many investors later revised their assessment of the result.
"Investors were not so surprised at the fall in industrial output," Nakaoka said.
The euro traded at $0.8930 around 2:00 p.m., up a touch from $0.8923 in New York but down from $0.9014 in Tokyo late Tuesday.
Against the yen, the euro traded at 94.85, down from 96.13 in Tokyo Tuesday.
Investors were concerned about an expected interest rate hike by the European Central Bank on Thursday, which may hamper European growth, dealers said.
"The euro is rangebound with a softer bias on the downside," a dealer with BNP Paribas in Singapore said. — (AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
