The yen rebounded against the dollar last week as the greenback eased against the euro after rallying on the French and Dutch rejection of the EU constitution. The outlook for the Australian dollar was meanwhile upbeat, partly in response to narrowing trade deficit figures released last Thursday.
JAPANESE YEN: The Japanese currency stood at 107.87-90 to the dollar late Friday, fractionally off from 107.82-85 a week earlier. It dipped to the week's low of 108.79 to the dollar on Thursday.
"The euro's fall has come to a halt after the key political event is over in Europe," Credit Suisse First Boston currency strategist Satoru Ogasawara said on Friday. "But in the medium to long term, the euro stays under pressure."
Unexpectedly weak US employment data, released Friday night Tokyo time, sent the dollar sliding down against major currencies in New York.
The US Labor Department said the US economy created 78,000 non-farm jobs in May, representing the smallest rise since August 2003 and far below Wall Street's consensus forecast for an increase of 180,000 jobs.
Market players had awaited the US jobs data for further evidence of the strength of the world's largest economy.
Lower-than-expected job data would likely "cap the dollar's upside by fuelling speculation that the US economic growth will slow down, halting rises in US interest rates," the economic journal Nihon Keizai Shimbun said on its Internet edition earlier Friday.
In the coming week, the market will watch congressional testimony by US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan on Thursday and the release of US trade figures on Friday, dealers said.
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR: The Australian dollar closed at 75.56 cents on Friday, down on the previous week's close of 76.09 US cents.
Westpac currency strategist Robert Rennie said the dollar, which hit a six-month low Thursday, was expected to continue to trade firmer.
The April trade balance deficit released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics was 1.325 billion dollars compared to 2.635 billion dollars in March.
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR: The New Zealand dollar ended the week in local trading at 70.23 US cents, down sharply from 71.17 the previous week. The kiwi dropped below 70 US cents on Thursday, driven lower by weakness in the euro after negative reaction to the European constitution referendum results and concerns about slowing New Zealand economic growth, dealers said.
HONG KONG DOLLAR: Hong Kong's US-pegged dollar was at 7.7827 on Friday from 7.7769 the previous week.
INDONESIAN RUPIAH: The Indonesian rupiah closed trading Friday slightly higher at 9,580-9,590 to the dollar compared to the previous week's 9,485-9,495.
PHILIPPINE PESO: The peso traded lower at 54.490 to the dollar on Friday afternoon compared to 54.455 on May 27.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR: The dollar was at 1.6665 Singapore dollars from 1.6583 the previous week.
SOUTH KOREAN WON: The won closed at 1,007.80 won per dollar, compared with 1,002.50 won a week earlier.
After three consecutive days of rises, the currency fell 5.0 won on Friday on profit-taking as businesses sold dollars they had earned through exports.
TAIWAN DOLLAR: The Taiwan currency rose 0.18 percent over the week to end at 31.303 against the greenback Friday. It finished at 31.361 a week ago.
THAI BAHT: The baht continued to weaken against the US dollar because of poor Thai economic data, especially a nine-year record for the April current account deficit, dealers said.
The baht's loss was also attributed to investors returning to buy back dollars in speculation that the Federal Reserve may hike interest rates in its June 30 meeting following improved United States economic figures.
The Thai unit closed Friday at a seven-month low of 40.70-75 baht to one dollar compared to last week's close at 40.50-52.
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