NEW YORK (Reuters) -
The dollar remained weaker versus the yen in late afternoon trade Friday after having hit a five-week low versus the Japanese currency earlier in the session.
The dollar fell to a five-week low of ¥105.56 earlier in the day before trimming its losses to ¥105.97 at around 3:45 p.m. ET. The dollar bought ¥106.19 late Thursday.
The euro, meanwhile, purchased $1.2127, down from $1.2137 late Thursday.
Investors looking to put money into Japanese securities amid an anticipated economic recovery converted their funds into yen, pushing the currency higher.
The Japanese government also showed retail sales rose, suggesting Japan's export-led recovery might be trickling down to consumers.
"Things are looking quite good for Japan and we should see more improvement, which would attract foreign capital and create problems for the Japanese authorities," Robert Bergqvist, chief analyst at SEB in Stockholm, told Reuters, referring to currency intervention when the yen rises, making its exports more expensive overseas.
Elsewhere, Treasury prices fell Friday after seemingly soft U.S. consumer spending data were overshadowed by upward revisions to a key U.S. inflation indicator.
The benchmark 10-year note fell 23/32 of a point to 101-12/32 to yield 3.83 percent, up from 3.74 late Thursday. The 30-year bond lost 1-4/32 to 109-7/32 with a yield of 4.76 percent, up from 4.69 Thursday.
The two-year note slipped 4/32 to 99-27/32 to yield 1.58 percent, and the five-year note shed 15/32 to 99-8/32 to yield 2.78 percent.
Personal spending rose 0.2 percent in February when analysts had looked for a 0.4 percent gain while real spending, adjusting for inflation, was flat. Personal income rose 0.4 percent, a little more than forecast, but disposable income rose a lower than expected 0.2 percent.
However, that softness was balanced by upward revisions to the core price index for personal consumption expenditures. Annual growth in the core PCE rose to 1.1 percent in February having been raised to 1 percent in January from the original 0.8 percent.
This is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation and the rise above 1 percent could prompt the central bank to shift its balance of risks on inflation when it next meets in May.
In other economic news, consumer sentiment rose unexpectedly in March according to a poll by the University of Michigan.
The University of Michigan's final reading of consumer confidence edged up to 95.8 in March from 94.4 in February.
A preliminary mid-month reading had left the index at 94.1, but economists had been looking for a dip in the final sentiment measure to 93.7.
-- Reuters contributed to this story.
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