* Japanese exporter selling dents dollar/yen
* Greenback initially helped by Japanese corp demand
* Aussie/USD hits 13-mth high after retail data
* Sterling recovers $1.60 on consumer confidence data
By Rika Otsuka
TOKYO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The dollar slipped against the yen
on Wednesday towards an eight-month low marked earlier this week
as Japanese exporters sold the U.S. currency to settle business
before the quarter ends later in the day.
The dollar's slide was broad with the Australian dollar
striking a 13-month peak against the greenback after strong
retail sales data added to the case for a rise in interest rates
as early as November. []
Sterling rose against the dollar after an index for consumer
confidence posted its biggest monthly jump in more than 14 years
in September. []
Dollar/yen was whipped around by flows related to the end of
the quarter, as well as Japan's fiscal half-year on Wednesday.
The pair rose in early Asian trade as Japanese importers
bought dollars. But the greenback soon erased gains as such
corporate demand faded quickly.
"The market is dominated by quarter-end flows from companies
and position-squaring by investors, temporarily lacking a clear
sense of direction," said Tsutomu Soma, senior manager of foreign
securities at Okasan Securities.
"But the dollar will stay in a downtrend in the longer-term,
with some looking for a chance to sell it on rebounds," Soma
said.
The dollar slipped 0.4 percent from late U.S. trade to 89.65
yen <JPY=>, erasing earlier gains to 90.42 yen on trading
platform EBS and falling towards an eight-month trough near 88.20
yen hit on Monday. On the quarter, the dollar plunged nearly 7
percent against the yen.
Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said on Tuesday the
government may take action if currency moves were irregular,
backtracking on earlier comments that suggested authorities were
comfortable with a rising yen.
A senior trader for a major Japanese bank said Japanese
exporters who had delayed selling the dollar were now suffering
with dollar/yen below 90 yen just ahead of the closing of their
forex-linked book for the half-year end.
Big Japanese manufacturers said in the Bank of Japan's tankan
survey released in July that they expected the dollar to average
94.85 yen for the financial year to next March 31. The BOJ is
scheduled to release its July-September tankan survey on
Wednesday. []
Japan has not intervened in forex markets since 2004 and many
market players doubt the new government, led by the Democratic
Party which swept to victory in elections last month, will depart
from the old administration's stance. []
"The U.S. dollar will remain under pressure to depreciate
while currencies in Asia will tend to rise given improving growth
prospects in the region," said Stephen Roberts, an economist at
Nomura in Sydney.
The euro inched up 0.2 percent to $1.4620 <EUR=>, having
climbed over 4 percent so far in July-September.
Against the yen, the euro was down 0.3 percent at 131.05 yen
<EURJPY=R>, but well above a two-month low of 129.84 struck on
Monday on EBS.
The Australian dollar <AUD=D4> climbed 0.8 percent to
$0.8781, having struck a 13-month high of $0.8805 after the
release of data showing Australia's retail sales grew 0.9 percent
in August from the previous month, faster than a forecast 0.5
percent rise.
As investors chased higher-yielding currencies this quarter,
the Aussie jumped more than 9 percent against the dollar from the
previous quarter.
Sterling rose 0.3 percent to $1.6010 <GBP=D4>.
(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag in Sydney and Satomi
Noguchi in Tokyo; Editing by Joseph Radford)
