NEW YORK. May 4: The dollar reversed course and "advanced against the Japanese yen Friday but fell against most other major currencies during a quiet session driven largely by technical factors, reports
Widely anticipated data on I US employment presented traders with mixed signals, as । the nation's unemployment , rate dipped to a 14-month low i of 5.4 per cent in April but job growth Came to a meager 2.000. Job growth the prior two months had been powerful.
"Really, everybody’s just sort •of stymied right now and they're going back to a neutral posture." said Randolph Donney. director of research at Pegasus Econometric Group.
Most of the dollar's move-■ ment did not reflect directly on the greenback but on the secondary effect of trades between the German mark and the yen. Donney said. That weakened the yen against the dollar-, reversing the yen's strong gains a day earlier.
As of 4 pm in New York, the dollar stood at 105.05 yen. up from 104.35 yen Thursday, and 1.5245 marks, down from 1.5283.
The release of the US employment data kicked off the trading day. M. followed word Thursday that the nation's gross domestic product rose at a 2.8 per cent rate during the year's first three mortths.
That stronger-than-expec-ted news had sent US stock and bond prices plunging on fears of inflation and higher
interest rates, pulling ttie dollar lower across the board.
The dollar tried to rally Friday on the US employment figures, since the anemic job growth suggested the economy is riot running too fast. The dollar moved immediately higher against the yen. with many traders reversing the positions they had taken a day earlier.
Against the German mark and other major currencies, the dollar was not able to hold on. turned lower and added to the prior day's declines. US stock and bond prices, which
initially rallied on the em ployment news, turned down later in the day and helped drag the greenback lower.
Traders hesitated to read too much importance into the day's action, as trading was thin and many people simply didn't want to carry uncertain positions into the weekend.
Other late dollar rates in New York, compared with Thursday: 1.2415 Swiss francs, down from 1.2440: 5.1505 French francs, down from 5.1627: 1,564.5 ItaliafT lire, up from 1.563.5: and 1.3652 Canadian dollars, up from 1.3621.