TOKYO: The dollar struggled on Friday as market turmoil and weak global growth boost the chances that the Federal Reserve will delay further rate hikes this year.
Currency traders are keeping close tabs on US jobs data later Friday, with a poor reading sure to reinforce fears about weakness in the world's top economy -- after the Fed raised rates for the first time in years in December.
Jittery investors have been pushing into the yen as they seek out a currency widely seen as a safe bet in times of turmoil and uncertainty.
"General risk-off (sentiment) has led to some appreciation of the yen, but it's also the dollar side of the story that's playing out as a bigger driver this time," Shinichiro Kadota, a foreign-exchange strategist at Barclays, told Bloomberg News.
"There are some questions about how effective and how much more scope for easing there is for the (European Central Bank) and (Bank of Japan)."
The yen dived last week after the Bank of Japan said it would adopt a negative interest rate policy, which stoked a brief global equities rally.
But Japan's currency has since bounced back, with the dollar sitting at 116.85 yen, against 116.74 yen Thursday. It was above 121 yen earlier this week.
The euro ticked down to $1.1190 from $1.1215 in US trade but remains well up from the $1.09 level seen earlier this week.
It also weakened to 130.60 yen from 130.81 yen Thursday in Tokyo.
The US has enjoyed reasonable economic results for the past few years in the face of a worldwide malaise, but a string of weak data lately has sparked worries over a downturn.
Emerging market currencies were broadly higher against the US unit.
The oil-linked Malaysian ringgit added 0.27 percent as crude prices rose, the South Korean won gained 0.45 percent and the Taiwanese dollar advanced 0.5 percent.
The Thai baht and Indonesia's rupiah also rose against the dollar.
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