TOKYO--The dollar edged lower in thin Asian trade on Thursday as many investors kept to the sidelines with few trading cues to move the market. The greenback fetched 96.41 yen in Tokyo afternoon trading from 96.64 yen in New York Thursday, while the euro changed hands at 129.02 yen compared with 128.25 yen in U.S. deals. The European single currency rose to US$1.3382 from US$1.3334. The dollar has been on a downward trend since mid-July amid uncertainty about the timetable for the Federal Reserve to scale back its aggressive bond-buying program. The U.S. central bank has said a firm recovery in the world's biggest economy is key to reining in its quantitative easing program. A pull-back of the Fed stimulus would shrink the number of dollars in the financial system, boosting demand and the greenback's value. The euro won support in Asian trade after Germany reported a bounce in its trade surplus in June, pointing to a pick-up in exports from the recession-hit eurozone's largest economy. The Indian rupee, which hit a lifetime low of 61.80 to the dollar earlier this week, was at 60.86 to the dollar. This compared to 60.88 late Thursday after the country's central bank announced fresh steps to drain cash from the banking system as it steps up efforts to stop the rupee's plunge. The dollar was mixed against other Asia-Pacific currencies. It eased to 43.52 Philippine pesos from 43.58 pesos the previous day, to 31.20 Thai baht from 31.23 baht, to 1,112.09 South Korean won from 1,112.26 won, and to SG$1.2603 from SG$1.2620. The dollar firmed to 10,310 Indonesian rupiah from 10,286 rupiah. The Australian dollar rose to 91.09 US cents from 90.56 cents. The Chinese yuan stayed flat at 15.74 yen.

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