Dollar surges to multi-year highs on yen in Asia

TOKYO: The US dollar surged in Asian trade on Friday after topping the 100 yen level for the first time in four years, but analysts warned that the Japanese unit's sharp drop was a double-edged sword.

The greenback changed hands at 101.01 yen in midday Tokyo trade against 100.55 yen in New York Thursday afternoon -- it was last above 100 yen in April 2009 and plunged to a record low around 75 yen in late 2011.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock index soared Friday as investors eyed the weaker Japanese currency as a boom for exporters because it makes them more competitive overseas and inflates the value of foreign income.

The yen's 30 percent plunge against the dollar since late last year comes on the back of the Japanese government's efforts to drag the world's third-largest economy out of a deflationary spiral that has crimped private spending and business investment, translating into years of tepid growth.

And the yen's fall has accelerated in the wake of the aggressive bond-buying program unveiled in April by the Bank of Japan that some say dwarfs the size of US quantitative easing.

The euro also climbed against the Japanese currency Friday at 131.77 from 131.17 in New York, while the single European unit was nearly flat on the dollar at $1.3040 from $1.3044.