MW; Yen gains on dollar, euro as Japan passes on intervention
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The dollar declined against Japan's yen Monday, as key Japanese policy makers held a much anticipated discussion but didn't discuss intervening in currency markets to slow the yen's recent strength.
The yen made broad gains in foreign-exchange trading to start the week.
Meanwhile, the dollar index (DXY 82.88, -0.18, -0.22%) , a measure of the U.S. unit against a basket of rival currencies, stood at 83.015, off from 83.049 Friday.
The dollar (USDYEN 85.1600, -0.4300, -0.5024%) declined to 85.19 yen, compared to ¥85.20 in late North American trading on Friday. The greenback fell to a 15-year low against the yen recently.
The euro (EURUSD 1.2721, +0.0021, +0.1654%) slipped to $1.2698 from $1.2711 Friday.
Against the yen, the euro (EURYEN 108.3600, -0.4100, -0.3770%) sunk to ¥108.15 from ¥108.89 Friday. In June, the euro slipped as low as ¥107.71, its weakest since 2001.
In a telephone conversation Monday morning, Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and Prime Minister Naoto Kan "discussed recent foreign-exchange market movement as well as economic conditions at home and abroad," a Bank of Japan spokesperson said, according to media reports. See story on Japanese officials' comments.
The dollar's retreat against the yen came on traders' "disappointment foreign-exchange intervention is not imminent," said Adam Cole, global head of foreign-exchange strategy at RBC Capital Markets.
A stronger yen is considered negative for Japan's export-reliant economy because it deflates exporters' profits overseas when repatriated.
The euro had been slightly higher in earlier trading, until data on European manufacturing slipped more than economists anticipated. Read about European PMI.
