The yen gained in Asian trade Friday as investors shunned risk in light of gloomy US economic data and uncertainty over the struggling financial and auto sectors.
The dollar fell to 97.75 yen in Tokyo morning trade from 97.95 in New York late Thursday. The euro slipped to 1.3129 dollars from 1.3144 and to 128.39 yen from 128.75.
The greenback continued to be sold after disappointing US housing and unemployment figures, said Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
Existing home sales fell 3.0 percent in March in the United States, resuming a downturn after a brief rebound in February, according to the National Association of Realtors.
A separate report showed that new claims for US jobless benefits rose in the past week to 640,000, reversing course after a surprise decline a week earlier.
More US data, including durable goods orders and new home sales, will be released later Friday.
The dollar was also pressured by a report in the Wall Street Journal that US automaker Chrysler is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection as soon as next week, while General Motors may follow in May, dealers said.
Investors were also nervous because Washington was expected to unveil later in the day the methodology of its "stress tests" used to assess the viability of the country's top 19 US banks.
With final results of tests due May 4, "investors around the world are understandably nervous about what they will reveal about the health of the financial system," NAB Capital strategists wrote in a note.
The pound fell to 1.4658 dollars from 1.4721 after Britain's finance minister, Alistair Darling, warned that the country's national debt would balloon to a record 175 billion pounds (256 billion dollars) in 2009-10.
Dealers said sentiment towards the British economy worsened after The Daily Telegraph reported that international credit ratings agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's were reviewing the country's top ranked "AAA" rating.
