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TOKYO: The euro held steady in Asian Friday as dealers await a key US jobs report at the end of a week that has seen the currency suffer a sell-off due to fresh eurozone debt concerns.
The unit bought $1.3070 and 107.53 yen in Tokyo trade, compared with $1.3057 and 107.52 yen in New York late Thursday. That compares with $1.3321 and 110.20 yen last week.
The dollar was changing hands at 82.27 yen, from 81.84 yen.
“The pair of euro/dollar won't move much, but a clear break of technical support at 1.3050 could send the pair down to 1.3000,” Osao Iizuka, a senior manager at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The euro fell in New York late Thursday on growing concerns over Spain's economic troubles, but Iizuka said the weakness “stems more from dollar buying”.
Madrid's borrowing costs soared Wednesday in its first debt auction since an austerity budget last week, fuelling concern among traders of a repeat of Greece's strife last year when it narrowly avoided a messy default.
Spain is racing to slash its public deficit to reassure markets that it will not follow Greece -- as well as Ireland and Portugal -- in needing a bailout after it missed its deficit target last year.
Junya Tanase, chief forex strategist at JP Morgan in Tokyo, said dealers were awaiting a US jobs report later Friday with dollar likely to trade in a 81.00-83.00 yen range next week.
Many analysts expect the Labor Department will report that US unemployment remained stuck at 8.3 percent for the third month in a row in March.
Sumino Kamei, senior analyst at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, said the greenback may climb toward the 84.00-yen mark if non-farm payrolls exceed expectations.
The dollar was largely flat against other Asian currencies at Sg$1.2580, Tw$29.49, 30.95 Thai baht, 42.70 Philippine pesos, and 9,165.00 Indonesian rupiah.
It edged up to 1,130.00 South Korean won from 1,128.10.
