TOKYO: The dollar firmed against the yen in Asian forex trading as risk sentiment got a boost from fading concerns over an abrupt end to the US Federal Reserve's massive stimulus programme.
The greenback fetched 98.88 yen in Tokyo morning trade, against 98.43 yen in New York late Thursday and 97-yen levels seen in Asian deals on Thursday.
"It's risk-on yen-selling," Kengo Suzuki, forex strategist at Mizuho Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The euro also gained on the Japanese unit at 129.07 yen from 128.40 yen in US trading, while it bought $1.3067 from $1.3035 on short covering and upbeat eurozone sentiment.
Investors were buoyed after the latest comments from a US Federal Reserve official aimed at soothing concerns over a quick end to the central bank's stimulus programme.
Top Fed official William Dudley, the bank's New York president, said the Fed would not hastily end its bond-buying, which helps keep interest rates low.
"A rise in short-term rates is very likely to be a long way off," he said.
Dudley added that Fed policy rests "on the progress we make towards our objectives" of pushing unemployment down to 6.5 percent and getting the world's largest economy back up to strength.
The euro won support after businesses and consumers in the 17-nation bloc turned sharply more optimistic in June about their economic prospects, an EU survey showed on Thursday.
However, the upbeat survey came as revised data showed that bailed-out eurozone member Ireland had fallen back into recession for the first time since 2009.
Forex flows were also being driven firms locking in their month-end positions, including importers who buy dollars to pay for goods from overseas, dealers said.
Earlier Friday, Japan released better-than-expected industrial production data, up 2.0 percent in May, pointing to a pick-up in the world's third-largest economy.
But consumer prices were flat as Japan continues to wrestle with growth-crimping deflation, boosting the likelihood that the Bank of Japan will press ahead with its massive monetary easing programme to boost the economy.
The stimulus tends to weaken the yen.
Meanwhile, Tokyo on Friday confirmed upper-house elections on July 21 as opinion polls tip Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's party to score a big win to clear the way for pushing through his much-needed economic reforms.
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