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FOREX-Dollar dips vs yen ahead of G7 meeting

Published 02/12/2009, 08:39 PM
Updated 02/12/2009, 08:40 PM

* Dollar slips vs yen on selling by Japan exporters

* Yen edges up despite rise in Tokyo shares

* G7 seen unlikely to issue strong message on currencies

By Masayuki Kitano

TOKYO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The dollar dipped against the yen on Friday due to selling by Japanese exporters and doubts about the effectiveness of U.S. government policies in combating recession. The dollar rose against the yen in late U.S. trading on Thursday as U.S. stocks came off session lows after sources familiar with the plan told Reuters that the Obama administration is hammering out a programme to subsidise mortgages.

But the outlook for U.S. and other stock markets was clouded by doubts about the effectiveness of U.S. financial stabilisation measures released earlier this week, traders said, adding that a quick recovery in risk appetite was unlikely.

"The G7 meeting starts today and the United States has a long weekend coming up, so I think people just wanted to unwind their positions," said a trader for a European bank.

Aside from such position unwinding, there seems to be little reason now for the yen to fall against the dollar and other major currencies, he added.

The dollar fell 0.2 percent to 90.66 yen, having pulled back from Thursday's high of 91.13 yen hit on trading platform EBS.

Market players said the dollar was dragged lower against the yen due to selling by Japanese exporters.

The euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.2891 and was steady at 116.86 yen.

Although the market was keeping an eye on a meeting of Group of Seven finance officials in Rome on Friday and Saturday, market players said the G7 was unlikely to issue a strong message on currencies in general or the yen in particular.

"Few market players are expecting the G7 to come out with a strong message on the yen," said Masafumi Yamamoto, head of foreign exchange strategy for Japan at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The G7 issued an unusual statement in late October expressing concern about excessive volatility in the yen.

It would not be a surprise if the G7 makes no explicit mention of the yen in its post-meeting statement this week, Yamamoto said.

"It is not as if the yen is rising one-way as was the case in October," Yamamoto said.

Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said on Friday that he does not intend to specifically raise the issue of currencies at the G7, but added that he would reiterate that rapid moves are undesireable. (Editing by Brent Kininmont)

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