Dollar stays in lower 120 yen zone in thin Christmas trading

Tokyo-Japan (Dec 25)  The U.S. dollar stayed in the lower  120 yen  zone in subdued trading in  Tokyo  on Thursday morning, with many overseas market participants away for Christmas.

At noon, the dollar fetched  120.16-18 yen  compared with  120.47-57 yen  in  New York  and  120.41-43 yen  in  Tokyo  at  5 p.m. Wednesday  .

The euro was quoted at  $1.2203-2209  and  146.62-74 yen  against $1.2191-2201 and  146.80-90 yen  in  New York  and $1.2187-2189 and  146.75-79 yen  in  Tokyo  late Wednesday afternoon.

In the morning, the dollar fell slightly within the lower  120 yen  range but remained firm overall amid thin trading due to Christmas, dealers said.

"It is unlikely that the dollar-yen pair will move as major financial markets all over the world, including  Oceania  ,  Asia  ,  Europe  and  the United States  , are closed," said  Daisaku Ueno  , chief foreign exchange strategist at  Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. 

Trading volume is not expected to increase until next week because participants in major markets will not be back until then except for U.S. markets, which will open on Friday, Ueno added.

The euro fell slightly against the yen in line with yen-buying against the dollar, while the common European currency remained directionless against the dollar, dealers said.

Source: JapanEconomicNewsWire