TOKYO: The yen strengthened against the dollar in Thursday morning trade after Japan posted an unexpected trade surplus in February, offering some hope for its plodding economy.
The dollar eased to 83.13 yen before rebounding to 83.37 yen in Tokyo, still below 83.87 yen in New York late Wednesday.
The euro was changing hands at $1.3227 and 110.26 yen compared with $1.3211 and 110.22 yen on Wednesday.
Japan logged a trade surplus of 32.9 billion yen ($394 million) in February, after posting a record trade deficit in the previous month, according to official data released just before trading started.
The figure beat market forecasts of a 110 billion yen deficit in February, according to a poll by by Dow Jones Newswires and the Nikkei business daily.
Immediately after the data was announced, the dollar eased to 83.13 yen from 83.45 yen in earlier trade.
The dollar was rising on dip-buying but the upside was knocked by Japan's trade figures, said Marito Ueda, senior managing director at FX Prime Corp. (AFP)