TOKYO — The U.S. dollar strengthened against the yen Monday morning amid renewed pessimism over Japan’s economy. Tokyo stocks were slightly lower.
The dollar bought 121.16 yen in late morning trading, up 0.70 yen from late Friday in Tokyo and also above its late New York level of 120.69 yen on Friday.
The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 27.96 points, or 0.21 percent, to 13,402.26 at the end of morning trading. On Friday, the average closed up 152.71 points, or 1.15 percent.
In currency dealings, the dollar moved higher against the yen after the Cabinet Office said Japan’s struggling economy contracted 0.2 percent for the January-March quarter, failing to attain the official target of 1.2 percent annual growth in the last fiscal year.
The figures for gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the nation, show Japan has a long way to go before it can hope to bail out of a decade-long economic slowdown.
GDP data were released before the Tokyo stock and currency markets opened.
Economy Minister Heizo Takenaka told a regular news conference Monday morning that it would be very difficult to attain 1.7 percent economic growth for current fiscal 2001 that began in April. Analysts have said the forecast is too ambitious.
Japan’s economy grew 0.7 percent during the October-December period. It then grew 0.9 percent for the fiscal year ending in March, falling below the government target.
On the stock market, moderate selling in the morning was led by technology issues following the release of weaker-than-expected GDP figures.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 113.74 points to 10,977.00 at Friday’s close. The Nasdaq composite index ended at 2,215.07, down 48.93.
The broader Tokyo Stock Price Index of all issues listed on the first section was down 0.82 points, or 0.06 percent, to 1,317.27 Monday. The TOPIX finished up 6.46 points, or 0.49 percent, on Friday.
In other currencies, the euro was traded at 103.04 yen, up from 102.41 yen late Friday in Tokyo.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond fell to 1.2300 percent from Friday’s finish of 1.2450 percent. Its price rose 0.14 point to 100.62.
