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Dollar dips at upper 104 yen level on grim U.S. outlook+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, May 16_(Kyodo) _ The U.S. dollar traded a shade lower at the upper 104 yen level Friday morning in Tokyo after a series of sluggish data clouded the U.S. economic outlook in contrast to robust economic growth figures for Japan and Europe. At noon, the dollar was quoted at 104.65-70 yen against 104.70-80 yen in New York and 104.80-83 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Thursday. The euro was quoted at $1.5475-5480 and 162.00-05 yen against Thursday's 5 p.m. quotes of $1.5443-5453 and 161.75-85 yen in New York and $1.5521-5524 and 162.69-73 yen in Tokyo. Dealers said the dollar lost ground against the euro and dipped slightly against the yen following a batch of disappointing U.S. economic indicators released Thursday, including the Empire State manufacturing survey released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which showed its general business conditions index falling to minus 3.23 in May from 0.63 in April. The U.S. Federal Reserve also said industrial production fell 0.7 percent in April from the previous month, worse than the average market forecast of a 0.3 percent decline. Meanwhile, the yen gained some strength against the dollar after the government said early Friday that Japan's economy grew an annualized 3.3 percent in real terms in the January-March period, beating the average market forecast of 2.6 percent growth in a Kyodo News survey. But yen buying was limited as investors remained skeptical about the outlook for the Japanese economy amid a slowdown in the United States from the subprime mortgage turmoil and soaring oil prices. "We cannot be certain from this data that Japanese economic conditions are improving," said Seiichiro Muta, director of foreign exchange distribution and services at UBS AG in Tokyo. "If we consider the weakness in capital spending, we are not in a condition to aggressively buy the yen." The government report said corporate capital spending declined 0.9 percent from the previous quarter. Stronger-than-expected German gross domestic product in the January-March quarter and upbeat eurozone economic growth data in the first quarter of 2008 also boosted the single European currency against the dollar and the yen. Copyright ? 2008 Kyodo News International, Inc. |