By: Barbara Zigah
The U.S. Dollar moved up versus the Japanese Yen in Asian trading today as institutional investors sought to fund their overseas investments through the purchase of the greenback. Buying, however, was lackluster, as many market players hesitated to buy the U.S. currency, in advance of the release tomorrow of the all important non-farms data from the U.S. As reported at 1:50 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar traded at 89.93 Yen, a slight increase from 89.75 Yen report during late trading yesterday in New York. Analysts expect the U.S. Dollars rise to be short-lived, as the greenback faces heavy selling orders if it rises about 90 Yen. According to one securities manager in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar remains weak, especially given that the Federal Reserve is not expected to raise interest rates anytime soon. The release of one labor report yesterday from the United States showed worse-than-expected numbers in job losses for September; according to payroll giant ADP nearly 254,000 jobs were lost last month, a more than 5% increase over economists’ predictions. Traders worry that if the Friday labor data follows the same trend, then the greenback will likely slip versus the Japanese currency.