By Cornelius Luca
New York, June 19 (BridgeNews) - The yen rebounded from a one-month low of 123.80 to the dollar after Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said he didn't believe a policy aimed at weakening the yen was appropriate. Meanwhile, the euro extended its decline on liquidation of long positions to a five-day low of 85.53 cents to the dollar.
* * * Traders squared off some of their long dollar/yen positions although it's apparent that Gov. Hayami played a political, rather than an economic card.
Japan's export-based economy could easily use a cheaper currency to find its way out of its current contraction.
Dollar/Swiss franc advanced to a five -day high of 1.7888 and sterling/dollar slipped to a five-day low of 1.3943, mimicking euro/dollar's swerves. Meanwhile, dollar/Canada fell from a two-week high of 1.5355 on profit taking.
Tuesday's domestic economic agenda focuses on May housing starts. The intraday outlook for the dollar is generally bullish.
Current Previous Change Global Global
NY open NY close low high

USD/JPY 123.12 123.37 -0.25 122.78 123.80
EUR/USD 0.8564 0.8608 -0.0044 0.8553 0.8615
EUR/JPY 105.44 106.20 -0.76 105.21 106.35
GBP/USD 1.3955 1.4060 -0.0105 1.3943 1.4055
USD/CHF 1.7868 1.7765 0.0103 1.7784 1.7888
USD/CAD 1.5325 1.5341 -0.0016 1.5324 1.5355
AUD/USD 0.5222 0.5226 -0.0004 0.5206 0.5236
NZD/USD 0.4137 0.4141 -0.0004 0.4125 0.4154
SP.1 1228.50 8.70 1219.60 1229.00
ND.1 1739.00 36.50 1701.00 1743.00