Dollar up After New York Losses Fuelled by Plane Tragedy
The dollar edged up in Asian trade Friday after tumbling in New York on news that a Malaysia Airlines jet had crashed in Ukraine killing almost 300 people, with the U.S. saying it had been shot down.
The Malaysian ringgit slipped against the greenback in response to the tragedy, the second to hit the troubled carrier since the disappearance of flight MH370 in March.
In Tokyo afternoon trading, the dollar bought 101.32 yen, up from 101.17 yen in New York but well down from Tokyo levels around 101.50 yen Thursday.
The dollar was also buying 3.189 ringgit, after hitting 3.196 ringgit earlier in the session, against 3.175 ringgit on Thursday.
The euro slipped $1.3522, against $1.3525 in U.S. trade, while it rose to 137.00 yen from 136.83 yen -- but was still off 137.29 yen Thursday in Asia.
Traders tend to flock to the yen in times of uncertainty, but the currency's brief uptick following the crash was short lived.
"It's hard to expect the (dollar-yen) pair will break below 101, once things calm down," Toshiyuki Umekawa, senior president of Mizuho Bank's forex division, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Flight MH17 had been carrying 298 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it went down in strife-torn eastern Ukraine, with U.S. officials saying it was hit by a surface-to-air missile.
Kiev said the jet was shot down in a "terrorist act", while comments attributed to a pro-Russian rebel chief suggested his men may have downed it by mistake, believing it was a Ukrainian army transport plane.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine bore responsibility for the crash, which came as Ukrainian forces battle pro-Moscow insurgents in the east of the country.
Adding to the selling pressure was news that Israel had launched a ground operation in the Gaza Strip on the tenth day of an offensive to stamp out rocket fire from the Hamas-run enclave, which has claimed 248 lives.
The news fuelled concerns that the conflict could escalate in the powder-keg region.
The dollar was mostly higher against other Asia-Pacific currencies.
It firmed to Sg$1.2420 from Sg$1.2416 on Thursday, to 60.35 Indian rupees from 60.16 rupees, to 43.60 Philippine pesos from 43.56 pesos, to 11,687.50 Indonesian rupiah from 11,662.50 rupiah, and to 32.19 Thai baht from 32.16 baht.
The greenback slipped to 1,030.85 South Korean won from 1,031.10 won, and to Tw$29.98 from Tw$30.00.
The Australian dollar edged lower to 93.62 U.S. cents from 93.65 cents, while the Chinese yuan slipped to 16.30 yen from 16.33 yen.