The dollar was lower against the yen in midafternoon trade, pressured by selling from Japanese exporters, dealers said.
They said investors are taking a wait-and-see stance today ahead of crucial economic data releases this week.
Later today, durable goods data for July and the Conference Board Survey of consumer confidence index for August will be released in the US.
Revised second-quarter US GDP data will be released Thursday while Japan's GDP data for the same period are expected to be announced Friday.Shigetake Nakayama, vice president of forex dealing section at UFJ Bank, said the dollar/yen has entered a correction phase.
"Investors now hold long-dollar positions (against the yen). I think investors are adjusting their dollar-long positions," Nakayama said.
akayama added however that the dollar would be well-supported at the 118.50 level against the yen if the current dollar weakness is only due to position adjustment.He said he sees the dollar/yen moving in a range of 118.50-121.00 over the next week.
He pointed out several possible negative factors for the dollar, noting that investors are increasingly cautious about any comments on possible strikes against Iraq ahead of the first anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks on the US.
"Obviously, war against Iraq will be negative news for the US unit. But at the moment, investors are ignoring the likelihood of such negative news emerging," Nakayama said.Nakayama said the dollar also entered a correction phase against the euro, adding that the euro will benefit from this long-dollar position adjustment.He expects the euro/dollar to move in a range of 0.9650-0.9800 over the coming week.

Tokyo 2.00 pm Tokyo 10.00 am New York 3.18 pm

Dollar
yen 118.82 down from 119.66 119.67
sfr 1.5065 down from 1.5135 1.5128
Euro
usd 0.9760 up from 0.9723 0.9726
stg 0.6390 down from 0.6396 0.6387
yen 115.96 down from 116.34 116.38
sfr 1.4703 down from 1.4716 1.4712//www.ananova.com