Dollar gains against yen in Asia as the G7 meeting gets underway (AP) (11-04-2008)

TOKYO (AP) -- The dollar rose against the yen in Asia on Friday as Asian equity markets gained and investors sold the yen.

The U.S. currency was worth around 102.04 yen Friday afternoon, compared with 101.89 yen in New York Thursday.

Investors will pay close attention to the G7 meeting to ascertain whether countries appear willing to cooperate in tackling global market uncertainties in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis.

The Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said the G-7 nations will "obviously" discuss foreign exchange and that such talks will be based on the shared view that excessive exchange rate moves are undesirable for global economic growth. If discussions disappoint the dollar is likely to resume its fall, however, some traders believe that the G-7 talks could help financial markets regain their composure across the globe, resulting in more strength in global share prices as well as the U.S. currency.

The dollar fell against the euro as the ECB left its policy rates unchanged at 4 percent overnight, which prompted investors to buy back the euro against the U.S. unit with speculation growing that interest-rate differentials between those areas may widen further.

The euro was quoted around $1.5761 in the afternoon, compared with $1.5741 in New York last night.

Source AP