By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The dollar slipped against the yen in Asian trading Monday, after Japanese government data showed core machinery orders jumped more than forecast, as did the nation's current-account surplus.
The dollar bought 97.38 yen, down from 97.54 yen in late North American trading Friday, when the greenback rallied more than 2% against its Japanese rival after the Labor Department said the U.S. economy lost 247,000 jobs in July, the fewest since August.
Core orders soared 9.7% in June from the previous month, a much bigger increase than the 2.9% rise expected on average by economists surveyed by Nikkei and Dow Jones Newswires. Separate data from the Ministry of Finance showed Japan's current-account surplus more than doubled on year in June, also beating expectations. See Economic Report on Japan data.
"The export-driven Japanese economy is not only benefiting from the pickup in global demand, but also from the stabilization of dollar/yen around the 95.00 level," said Boris Schlossberg, director of currency research at GFT.
"With most Japanese businesses hedged around that price point, currency valuations are finally proving supportive rather than disruptive for most Japanese businesses," he said in emailed comments.
The dollar index (DXY 78.98, +0.08, +0.11%) , a measure of the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose to 79.05, up from 78.94.
The euro also rose, buying $1.4187, up from $1.4179 late Friday.
