TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - The dollar continued lower in midafternoon trade amid market speculation accounting fraud will be uncovered at US energy trading firm Reliant Resources, dealers said. Last month, Reliant Resources said it had been issued with a formal order of investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to "round trip" trades and transactions that led to a restatement of the company's 2001 financial results earlier this year. Deals are reportedly so called "round-trip" trades where the same amount of energy is bought and sold for the same price in order to increase trading volumes. The formal order of investigation authorizes the SEC staff to compel testimony and production of documents, including from individuals who are not or are no longer affiliated with Reliant Resources or Reliant Energy. Hiroyoshi Kinoshita, a deputy forex trading group manager at Aozora Bank, said today's fall in the dollar during Tokyo trade was "sharper-than-expected". "US banks, particularly, have been selling the dollar today," Kinoshita said. "There is market talk about (possible) accounting fraud at Reliant Resources. But, (this factor) is not something which is likely to drag down the dollar that low, if you consider it is not a very new lead. "It seems as though, given weak dollar sentiment, the dollar reacted too negatively to this old news," Kinoshita said. He added that against the yen, the dollar was also pressured by Japanese exporters selling the US unit. "Previously, exporters were waiting to sell the dollar at the 120.00 level. But it seems like they have started selling the US unit at the 119.00 level now," he said. Kinoshita said the dollar/yen is seen ranging between 118.00-121.00 over the next week. Kinoshita said he expects the dollar to rebound soon, following the release of second-quarter earnings results by US companies. "I think most of the negative leads will have been digested by the market after second-quarter earnings news in the US. After that, I guess the dollar will enter a rebound phase," he said. Kinoshita said any rise in the euro is likely to prove limited as the dollar rebounds. The euro/dollar will move in the range of 0.9700-1.0000 during the next week, he said.