TOKYO, July 7 – The dollar was rangebound in Asian trade on Tuesday amid jitters over the global economy and this week\’s summit of the Group of Eight (G8) economic powers, analysts said.
The dollar was changing hands at 95.35 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, almost unchanged from its level of 95.33 in New York late on Monday. The euro slipped to 1.3964 dollars from 1.3979 and to 133.12 yen from 133.32.
The greenback had briefly fallen below 95 yen in New York, the lowest level since late May, as the Japanese currency benefited from increased risk aversion following last week\’s dismal US employment report.
The dollar and yen generally do better in times of economic uncertainty compared to currencies such as the euro that are seen as riskier.
Market players are now "looking to what will come out of the G8 summit," said Masato Otsubo, currency analyst at Resona Bank.
"There is caution that talks on the dollar as an international reserve currency would trigger dollar selling," he said.
China said last week that it wanted a broader global monetary system, ahead of President Hu Jintao\’s departure for the G8 summit, which starts Wednesday.
China is not a member of the G8, which groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, but is regularly invited to join enlarged sessions at the annual summit, along with other major nations.
Against Asian currencies, the dollar rose to 1.4573 Singapore dollars from 1.4545 a day earlier, to 1,273.18 South Korean won from 1,267.80 and to 10,272.50 Indonesian rupiah from 10,230.
It climbed to 48.18 Philippine pesos from 48.13, to 32.98 Taiwan dollars from 32.92 and to 34.12 Thai baht from 34.02.
