The dollar slipped in Asian trade Friday following falls on Wall Street triggered by worries over global growth and amid disappointment over a muted stimulus move by the US Federal Reserve. Against the dollar, the euro firmed to $1.2563 in Tokyo morning trade from $1.2543 in New York late Thursday, while the single currency dipped to 100.62 yen from 100.68 yen. The dollar — which enjoyed a rally in US trade Thursday as markets looked to safe-haven currencies — slid to 80.09 yen from 80.26 yen in US trade.
“The momentum of the dollar’s rise will weaken following falls in share prices and a lull in the trend of rising US government bond yields,” Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Barclays Capital, said in a client note. The Fed earlier this week disappointed some expectations that its policy board would launch a new quantitative easing programme that would inject more money into the economy to boost growth. Markets were also looking to a European Union finance ministers’ meeting later Friday, he added.
The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain are also due to meet in Rome later in the day to thrash out details of measures aimed at tackling Europe’s ongoing debt crisis before a crucial EU summit next week. The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said the eurozone needs to establish a full banking union and that the European Central Bank should usher in further stimulus, saying the eurozone crisis was at a “critical stage.”
