[March 09, 2009] Dollar at lower-98 yen level, yen under pressure from bad economic data+ Tweet (Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, March 9_(Kyodo) _ The U.S. dollar traded at the lower-98 yen level Monday morning in Tokyo as worse-than-expected Japanese balance of payments data cooled investor sentiment toward the yen. At noon, the dollar fetched 98.32-37 yen versus 98.24-34 yen in New York and 97.35-37 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Friday. The euro traded at $1.2685-2690 and 124.75-80 yen against $1.2650-2660 and 124.26-36 yen in New York and $1.2694-2696 and 123.58-62 yen in Tokyo late Friday. Starting Tokyo trading in the upper-97 yen range, the dollar rose to the lower-98 yen level as investors sold the yen after the release of the Japanese payments data for January, which provided fresh evidence of the ailing Japanese economy, dealers said. Also reducing the yen's appeal was increasing uncertainty about the Japanese political situation, dealers said, citing the arrest last week of a secretary of the nation's main opposition party leader Ichiro Ozawa amid a fundraising scandal, dealers said. "The dollar is gaining appeal as a safe haven currency, reflecting worsening Japanese economic conditions coupled with uncertainty surrounding the country's political situation," said Ryohei Muramatsu, manager of the Group Treasury Asia at Commerzbank in Tokyo. Japan's Finance Ministry reported a record-high current account deficit of 172.8 billion yen in January, the first red ink figure in 13 years, as a result of plummeting exports and the yen's surge that has reduced investment returns. The figure was far worse than the average market forecast of a 15.7 billion yen deficit in a Kyodo News survey. Amid such a bleak economic landscape, "Confidence in Japanese politics and the nation as a whole has been falling (among currency traders). That is spilling over to the yen," Muramatsu added. The dollar was also supported after investors got some relief from U.S. employment data, dealers said. On Friday, the U.S. government said the country lost 651,000 nonfarm jobs in February with the unemployment rate climbing to 8.1 percent, the highest in a quarter century. Still, the figures were not as bad as had been expected. Copyright ? 2009 Kyodo News International, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]