Yen weakens on reports BOJ set to take further easing steps By William L. Watts, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The dollar gained ground on the Japanese yen but slipped a tad versus the euro as traders awaited the release of February U.S. employment data. The euro changed hands at $1.3587, up slightly from $1.3577 late Thursday in range-bound trade. Greece's sale Thursday of a 5 billion euro 10-year bond, with a coupon of 6.2% following the announcement this week of additional austerity measures helped remove some of the Greek-related stress that has plagued the euro, analysts said. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is set to meet later Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and to travel to Paris this weekend to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Ahead of the meeting, Merkel was quoted as saying Greece had taken a courageous step to address its budget problems. Read about Papandreou's upcoming meeting with Merkel. But German officials have played down the prospect of announcing concrete measures to aid Greece. While worries over sovereign debt issues continue to linger, events over the past day indicate the worst of the crisis may be over at least for now, said Boris Schlossberg, director of currency research at GFT. "The successful Greek bond auction and the meaningful austerity measures implemented by Greek authorities may have pacified the debt markets for the time being," he said. The Labor Department will release U.S. February employment data at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expect non-farm payrolls to decline by 90,000, with the unemployment rate expected to tick up to 9.8%. Read Economic Outlook. The dollar rose against the Japanese currency, to buy 89.31 yen, up from 89.12 yen in late North American trading Thursday. The yen weakened in Asian trade after a report suggested the Bank of Japan might consider further easing steps. The BOJ's policy board is expected to discuss such steps at a two-day meeting starting March 16, Japanese business daily Nikkei reported. See full story on BOJ easing plan. "I haven't heard such a message directly from the BOJ. But both the government and the bank share the stance that each has to make its own efforts to beat deflation," Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan said Friday, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The dollar index (DXY 80.54, -0.02, -0.02%) , which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, traded at 80.546, up from 80.575 late Thursday. The British pound was little changed at $1.5030 versus the dollar.

Source