TOKYO: The dollar held steady in Asia Tuesday following a slip in reaction to a rebound in oil prices, while the Russian ruble rebounded after its biggest one-day fall in 16 years.
In Tokyo, the greenback fetched 118.41 yen, against 118.40 yen in New York.
The euro eased to $1.2464 from $1.2469, and to 147.58 yen from 147.64 yen.
The dollar has climbed since Thursday, when the OPEC oil cartel ignored calls to cut production in the face of a supply glut sending crude prices plunging to five year lows. The greenback benefits from lower prices as they are considered a plus for the US economy.
However, analysts expect the dollar to resume its uptrend, saying the lift in oil prices may be just a technical correction.
The ruble edged up marginally after sinking almost nine percent to to 53.9 against the greenback Monday, its worst one-day drop since Russia's debt meltdown in 1998. On Monday it was at 51.2 to the dollar.
The Russian unit has lost 60 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of the year, pummelled by tumbling oil prices and Western sanctions over Moscow's support of Ukrainian separatists.
On Monday, the dollar briefly soared to a fresh seven-year high of 119.15 yen after Moody's cut its credit rating for Japan, putting it below China and South Korea and on par with Israel and the Czech Republic.
Moody's cited "rising uncertainty" over the country's debt situation after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put off a planned sales tax hike that was aimed at curbing the country's massive public debt.
However, Shunichi Otsuka, general manager of research and strategy at Ichiyoshi Asset Management, said the impact on the yen was minimal.
"Little of Japan's debt is held by foreigners, so unless there is a surprise upward impact on interest rates, the picture for equity investing should not be much harmed," Otsuka told Dow Jones Newswires.
"Any softness in today's market should not be directly attributable to the downgrade."
Investors are keeping tabs on a European Central Bank policy meeting later in the week to see what it unveils any fresh easing measures to fight off deflation, while a closely watched US jobs report will come out Friday.
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