TOKYO: The dollar rose past 109.70 yen in Tokyo trading Friday, backed by higher stock prices and US interest rates.

At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at 109.71-72 yen, up from 109.56-57 yen at the same time Thursday. The euro was at 1.1824-1824 dollars, down from 1.1849-1849 dollars, and at 129.73-74 yen, down from 129.83-83 yen.

After moving on a firm note in 109.70-yen terrain in overnight trading backed by a rise in U.S. long-term interest rates, the dollar hit 109.90 yen toward midmorning on buying sparked by the Nikkei stock average’s advance and purchases by Japanese importers.

“The U.S. currency attracted real demand-backed buying ahead of the three-day weekend in Japan,” said a Japanese bank official.

After the rise, the dollar went sideways in a slightly lower range between 109.70 yen and 109.80 yen, as players retreated to the sidelines to wait for the release later in the day of the U.S. Labor Department’s jobs report for July.

Expectations that the government report will indicate robust improvement in the U.S. employment situation were revived by a drop in continuing jobless claims to a post-pandemic low shown by the department’s weekly report Thursday, which came after Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported lower-than-expected private-sector jobs growth on Wednesday, the bank official said.

But a securities firm official noted that even if the upcoming report shows a robust rise in U.S. nonfarm payrolls, the dollar’s ascent will be limited because the Federal Reserve will not start tapering its quantitative easing in haste as stated by Fed chief Jerome Powell.

JIJI