The yen edged up against the dollar and the euro on Friday after a sharp fall the previous day, as investors tip-toed back to the perceived safety of the Japanese currency amid nagging concerns about the global credit crisis. Asian stock markets rose, tracking sharp gains on Wall Street, which had initially encouraged investors to return to riskier trades, triggering a steep drop in the yen and the dollar.
But caution set in as the market turned its attention to this weekend's summit of the Group of 20 industrialised and emerging economies, traders said. The dollar rebounded versus the euro, making up for some of the previous day's losses, with investors eyeing euro zone growth data for the third quarter. The data is expected to confirm the euro zone is in recession.
"The anxiety caused by the financial market turmoil has not disappeared from the market's overall tone. So demand for the dollar and the yen driven by flight-to-safety will likely remain," said Yousuke Hosokawa, senior manager at Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking.
"The market just can't brush away its worries about issues such as how large the losses by US financial corporations will be and whether the $700 billion US bailout plan will suffice," he said. The dollar fell 0.6 percent to 97.10 yen after having jumped as high as 98.30 yen on Thursday from the lows below 95 yen touched earlier during that day.
Traders said real demand for the yen from exporters rose when the Japanese currency fell sharply the previous day. The euro dipped 0.9 percent to 123.62 yen on trading platform EBS It soared about 8 yen, or 7 percent from a 2-week low below 118 yen to near 126 yen on Thursday.
"The currency market's performance reflects investors' doubt over whether the rapid gains on Wall Street are sustainable. It is difficult to take a bearish view on the dollar and the yen," said Nobuaki Kubo, vice president at BBH Investment Services.
The market is expected to grow more risk-averse if the euro zone third-quarter gross domestic product deteriorates as expected, traders said. Euro zone GDP for the quarter is seen contracting 0.2 percent, bringing the annual rate of growth down to 0.7 percent.
On Thursday, data showed German GDP contracted by 0.5 percent in the third quarter, putting Europe's biggest economy into recession for the first time in five years The single European currency edged down 0.1 percent to $1.2755 but stayed above a two-week low of $1.2388 hit the previous day.