The dollar rose against the yen Wednesday in Asia as investors took cues from rising Japanese share prices, while traders said they will watch U.S. economic data for near-term trading cues on the currency pair. The greenback was at Y104.41 as of 0450 GMT, up from Y104.16 in New York on Tuesday. Traders say the Nikkei Stock Average rose more than expected, prompting speculators to test automated stop-loss buying orders above Y104.50. The index was up 2.2% in late afternoon trading. "It's possible that we see the dollar at Y104.70 or so by the end of today," said Yuji Saito, director of foreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo. Still, investors say the dollar's rise above the Y105.00 mark will be difficult, and that position adjustments after last week's surprisingly soft U.S. jobs data may not be over. "Don't think the post-data adjustment is over just because we have the pair rising today," said Takumi Nomura, a senior dealer at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. He expects the dollar to hover around Y104.50 this week. Investors will pay attention to the Fed's Beige Book report on the economy due later in the day, as well as the U.S. consumer price index data Thursday. If the Fed sounds upbeat about employment and the CPI turns out to be strong, traders say expectations would rise that the Fed will alter its forward guidance at its next policy meeting to prevent expectations for near-term rate hikes from becoming too big. "If that's the case, it will be a plus for the risk-taking appetite," Mr. Saito said. The euro was at $1.3632 and Y142.34 from $1.3680 and Y142.53.

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