The FINANCIAL -- The dollar was almost unchanged against the yen and the euro in quiet Asia trade February 20, with market participants taking a wait-and-see stance ahead of crucial events such as the eurozone finance ministers' meeting on the Greek bailout. At 0450 GMT, the dollar was at Y118.91 from Y118.97 late on February 19 in New York, according to Nasdaq. The U.S. currency hit as high as Y119.10 due to dollar buying by Japanese importers related to their regular commercial trade settlement in the morning. But the currency market was otherwise quiet with many traders away from the market elsewhere in Asia due to the Chinese New Year holiday. "The market moved a little on some flows by Japanese investors," said Yuzo Sakai, manager of FX business promotion at Tokyo Forex & Ueda Harlow. The dollar tentatively stayed below the Y119-mark as investors would like to see the outcome of the eurozone finance ministers' meeting later Friday in Brussels to discuss the Greece's proposal to extend the government's bailout program. Greece has little more than a week before its EUR240 billion ($273 billion) bailout expires at the end of February, leaving the government without financing and its banks at risk of being completely cut off from the lending facilities of the European Central Bank. Among other currency pairs, the euro was at $1.1364 from $1.1361 and was at Y135.12 from Y135.15, according to Nasdaq. Currency market participants are also now looking ahead to Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen's testimony before Congress Feb. 24-25. Despite the negative reaction initially to the Federal Open Market Committee minutes published Wednesday, market participants say the downward pressure seems to have disappeared. Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Jan. 27-28 showed that many officials thought premature rate increases might weigh on the U.S. economy's recovery, and that a deterioration of economies overseas could present risks to the nation's economic outlook. "The biggest reason behind the directionless trade in the dollar-yen pair is the swaying market consensus over the timing of the U.S. interest rate increase," said Daiwa Securities FX strategist Yukio Ishizuki in a note. "It is true that the FOMC minutes published Wednesday seem to have given a dovish slant but it is hard to ignore the environment," when the FOMC gathered Jan. 27-28 before the release of upbeat January jobs data, said Mr. Ishizuki. "We could even say it's the biggest chance (for the Fed) to normalize its interest policy in June. We are wondering what kind of messages (Ms. Yellen) would send to the market." The WSJ Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies, was down 0.03% at 85.43.

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