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FOREX-Yen slips after stress tests, U.S. data eyed

Published 05/07/2009, 08:46 PM
Updated 05/07/2009, 09:08 PM
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* Yen slips vs dollar, euro after bank stress test results

* U.S. bank stress tests results remove uncertainty

* Market focus shifting to U.S. jobs data

By Satomi Noguchi

TOKYO, May 8 (Reuters) - The yen slipped against the dollar and the euro on Friday after U.S. bank stress test results removed a major uncertainty in financial markets, while investors waited to see if a U.S. payrolls report due later in the day would help to further boost investors' appetite for risk.

Traders said the test results were largely in line with expectations, and the market focus shifted to whether U.S. jobs data will show a slowing of job losses and reinforce hopes that the end of a deep global recession is near.

On Thursday, a drop in new U.S. jobless claims and better German manufacturing data bolstered a sense the economic slump is bottoming out.

That followed data for April earlier this week showing private-sector employers eliminated the fewest jobs since last November and far fewer than in March.

"The announcement of stress test results came with the best timing after market sentiment had already been improved by a slew of upbeat economic data along with a recovery of stock markets," said Yoshihisa Kanzaki, a trader at Shinkin Central Bank.

"The currency market may not be able to move so actively until seeing whether the U.S. jobs data can lend more support to that trend or not," Kanzaki said.

The euro edged down 0.2 percent to $1.3367 as traders reduced long positions made the previous day after the European Central Bank's decision to refrain from taking more aggressive liquidity-boosting measures that could reduce the currency's value. On Thursday, the euro rose to a one-month high of $1.3471 on trading platform EBS.

The ECB said it plans to spend about 60 billion euro ($80 billion) buying covered bank bonds in a bid to stem the euro zone's economic decline. The ECB also cut its interest rates to 1 percent, a record low.

The euro was earlier little changed after Washington released results of its bank stress tests and found 10 needed additional capital -- a total of $74.6 billion -- to withstand heavier losses that would be likely if the recession worsened.

Against the yen, the dollar edged up 0.2 percent to 99.38 yen, near a three-week high of 99.80 yen hit the previous day on EBS.

The euro rose 0.1 percent to 132.84 yen, in sight of a three-week high of 133.58 yen touched on Thursday.

Economists forecast a median 590,000 jobs were lost in April, a mild improvement from a loss of 663,000 jobs in March. But the unemployment rate is seen at 8.9 percent, up from 8.5 percent the previous month.. (Editing by Michael Watson)

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