TOKYO: The dollar and euro weakened against the yen in Asian trade on Friday amid growing fears over weekend elections in Greece that are widely seen as a referendum on its future in the embattled eurozone.
The greenback was changing hands at 78.82 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from 79.34 yen in New York late Thursday, while the euro bought $1.2636 and 99.58 yen, from $1.2630 and 100.21 yen in US trade.
The dollar added to its overnight losses against the yen after the Bank of Japan on Friday kept interest rates unchanged at zero to 0.1 percent, while holding firm on a 70.0 trillion yen ($885 billion) asset-purchase programme.
The yen, which hit record highs against the dollar last year, has strengthened again in recent weeks as traders increasingly view it a safe-haven currency amid turmoil in Europe and a lumbering US economic recovery.
"(But) ahead of Greece's election, there is no sense of direction in the currency market," Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Barclays Capital, said in a note to clients.
Traders were also watching key US economic data due later Friday, but "the sensitivity of the market to these events will be lower" than usual because of the Greek polls, he added.
The Australian dollar, meanwhile, climbed back above parity with the greenback amid speculation of further easing by the US Federal Reserve, buying 1.0026 US dollars against 99.62 US cents.
Polls show Greek voters split between supporting pro-bailout parties and the leftist Syriza party which wants to renegotiate an EU-IMF bailout, warning it was ready to tear up the agreement.
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has set a 10-day deadline to renegotiate the bailout deal, which he claims is killing the country's hard-hit economy.
If the rescue deal fails there are widespread worries that Greece would default on its massive debt and be forced out of the 17-nation eurozone.
A Syriza victory would weigh on the euro, Yamamoto said, but added that "Syriza could ease its stance of opposing financial austerity as it is not calling for a euro exit, in which case the euro selling" may ease.
The dollar was mostly lower against other Asia-Pacific currencies.
It dipped to 1,163.83 South Korean won from 1,166.90 won on Thursday, to Sg$1.2760 from Sg$1.2814, to 31.52 Thai baht from 31.54 baht and to 42.31 Philippine pesos from 42.58 pesos.
The greenback also dipped to Tw$29.89 from Tw$29.94 and to 55.67 Indian rupees from 55.74 rupees, while rising to 9,467.00 Indonesian rupiah from 9,458.00 rupiah.
The Chinese yuan changed hands at 12.40 yen against 12.47 yen.
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