SINGAPORE: The dollar eased against the yen in Asian trade Monday ahead of a testimony by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke in the US Congress and a meeting of G20 finance ministers this week.
With China's second quarter gross domestic product coming in line with expectations, investors are likely to focus on Bernanke's semi-annual testimony in the US Congress on Wednesday and Thursday, analysts said.
Eyes will also be on a meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors on Thursday and Friday.
In Singapore mid-afternoon trade, the dollar fetched 99.26 yen, slightly down from 99.29 yen in New York trade Friday.
The euro was at $1.3065 from $1.3067 and 129.71 yen from 129.74 yen.
Japanese financial markets were closed for a holiday.
Beijing said Monday that GDP for the second quarter rose 7.5 percent, slowing from 7.7 percent in the preceding three months but within market expectations.
On the US front, "Bernanke is expected to tell US lawmakers that he is encouraged by the improvement in the US economy, but he does not share the market's optimism that it is strong enough to bring forward rate hike expectations," DBS Bank said in a research note.
Bernanke is also likely to highlight that the US economic recovery "was still at risk from low inflation" and would stress that "restrictive fiscal policy was hurting headline growth", DBS said.
United Overseas Bank said in a note that Bernanke is expected to "shed more light (or confusion) on monetary policy and economic outlook" as well as give clearer signals on winding down the central bank's massive stimulus package to support the US economy.
Bernanke has said that the Fed's $85 billion-a-month bond-buying programme would be kept in place "for the foreseeable future".
The dollar rose against most Asia Pacific currencies.
It advanced to 60.035 Indian rupees from 59.89 on Friday, to 29.883 Taiwan dollars from 29.880, to 31.150 Thai baht from 31.11 and to 43.439 Philippine pesos from 43.35.
It also rose to 10,028 Indonesian rupiah from 9,988, to 1.2646 Singapore dollars from 1.2606, and to 1,121.88 South Korean won from 1,120.35.
The Australian dollar fell to 91 US cents from 91.81 cents and the Chinese yuan changed hands at 16.178 yen compared with 16.11 yen.
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