The dollar rose on Monday, extending gains made late last week when investors shifted money into US assets out of commodities such as gold and oil.
Traders said the dollar was ready for a correction after a fall that sent the currency to an eight-month low against the yen and a year-low versus the euro last week.
"The market is taking a break from rapid dollar selling, especially over the past week, prompting players to cover their short positions," said Tatsuro Karitani, a senior trader at Mizuho Corporate Bank.
Since the middle of last month, the dollar had come under pressure from heightening tension over Iran's nuclear programme, talk of global investment diversification away from US assets into the euro, and renewed focus on the US trade and budget deficits.
Traders and analysts said that speculators may be unwinding long yen positions they had taken against the dollar on the back of such factors. Data released on Friday covering the week to May 16 showed that speculative trading accounts in International Monetary Market futures were net long of the yen to the tune of 19,121 contracts, the highest since January 2005. After a spate of dollar negative factors, investors were turning their attention back to the currency's interest rate advantage over the yen and the euro, traders said.
The dollar was at a two-week high around 112.45 yen, up from around 111.70 yen in late US trade on Friday. The euro slipped to $1.2720 from around $1.2775.
The single European currency climbed 0.2 percent to 143.05 yen.
Traders said the dollar may have room to rise to around 113 yen in the near term.
"Technically, the dollar looks firm against the euro, sterling and the Swiss francs as the US currency is near levels that are comfortable for buying back on the charts," said Karitani at Mizuho.
The dollar would likely trade between 110.50 and 113.50 yen and between $1.2550 and $1.2850 per euro this week, he said.
Growing inflationary pressures due to rising oil prices have kept alive speculation that the US Federal Reserve could raise rates again after tightening credit at 16 straight monetary policy meetings. "Market focus is returning to the future course of US interest rates," said a dealer at a Japanese bank. "And whether the dollar keeps its gains will depend on whether we see strong data."
The Fed, the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank are due to hold policy meetings in June.
Of the three, the ECB is most likely to boost rates next month, while expectations are growing that the Fed will boost rates again after a hike to 5 percent earlier this month.
BoJ Governor Toshihiko Fukui suggested after last week's policy meeting that the central bank was in no hurry to raise rates from near zero, further dampening speculation of a rate rise as early as June.
Traders said that despite prospects of rising rates in the euro zone, the euro was top-heavy after some European officials expressed concerns about the currency's strength hurting growth while others said the euro's current levels were tolerable.
Deputy German Finance Minister Thomas Mirow told Reuters on Sunday that Germany's economy - the largest in the euro-zone - can cope with the current level of the euro and its main concern was the sharp gyrations in the foreign exchange market.
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