Hong Kong, July 4 (BridgeNews) - Consolidation prevailed in quiet trade in Asia Wednesday morning before the U.S. Independence Day celebrations. The U.S.
dollar firmed slightly from New York closing levels against the major currencies. The dollar traded 124.48 against the yen as of 1200 JT, compared with the New York closing level of 124.38.
Dollar/yen drifted up from 124.38 to 124.59 on some buying from U.S. names.
Dealers were focusing on technical factors and talk of continued selling interest aimed at defending option trigger levels near 125.00. Japanese Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs Haruhiko Kuroda said he does not expect foreign exchange to be a topic of conversation at Saturday's Group of Seven meeting.
He also said the G7 would not discuss monetary policy in detail. Though the comments had no immediate impact on the currency market. Separately, Kuroda said in an interview with the Nihon Keizai Shimbum that the G7 nations are expected to reaffirm their commitment to necessary measures to deal with the global slowdown.
Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended a quiet morning session lower led by high-tech and banking shares ahead of the U.S. Independence Day Holiday on Wednesday.
After fluctuating in a narrow 150-point range, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 123.07 points, or 1.0%, to 12,694.34.
In other currency trading, euro/dollar drifted down to 0.8462 amid a lack of interest.
Further consolidation in the 0.8450-0.8500 area was anticipated with the U.S. closed overnight and the European Central Bank governing council meeting coming up on Thursday.