TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - The yen turned higher against the dollar in midafternoon trade, benefiting from the equity market's gains and active buying of the local unit by exporters, dealers said. In addition, foreign investors appeared to have turned sellers of dollars due to continued political uncertainty in the Middle East, they said. US Secretary of State Colin Powell, currently in the Middle East on a peace mission, said the latest talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were "useful and contructive", but appears to have fallen short of bringing about any agreement to resolve the situation, they said. Some dealers said the yen also benefited from a report by the Sankei Shimbun that Sony Corp is in the final stages of negotiations to sell a major stake in its wholly-owned life insurance unit, Sony Life, to GE Capital, for about 500 bln yen. A dealer at a local trust bank said that rise of the yen during afternoon trade today was largely due to exporters buying the local unit. "It seems like there is strong yen-buying waiting at around the 132.40 level from Japanese exporters. In addition, foreign investors started to sell the dollar" due to Middle East concerns, he said. The dealer said that the downside of the dollar will be well-supported at around the 130.50 level against the yen over the next week. "At around this level, Japanese officials have made verbal intervention recently," the dealer said. This morning, Deputy Finance Minister for International Affairs Haruhiko Kuroda reportedly said he sees no reason for a stronger yen. Dealers said that the dollar will be well-supported due to demand from Japanese institutional and retail investors in order to buy overseas bonds. The euro was rangebound against major currencies with no fresh leads, dealers said. Dealers said it is necessary for the euro to breach the 0.8875 level against the dollar to gain upward momentum.