HONG KONG, Feb I: Anxiety about a possible devaluation of the Chinese y lian were laid to rest early in t he trading week, lending support to Asia-Pacific currencies, reports AFP.

But the yer I lost ground as worries abou I the Brazilian economy recec Jed with continued concerns s bout its banking sector debt add png to weakness.

The Austral San dollar weakened on a dip in commodity prices and th e strengthening greenback.

Indonesia's rupiah, the Thai baht and the Taiwan dollar benefitted front: positive news about the yuan.

JAPANESE YAN: The yen fell against the dollar due to receding worries about the Brazilian economy ar id concern about the Japanese t conomy, dealers said.

The yen stood at 115.96-99 to the dollar late Friday, down from 113.68-711 to the dollar a week earlier.

The Japanese unit plunged

in to the 116 range on Thursday. carrying over its bearishness in New York to touch the year's low against the dollar.

Worries about the Brazilian economy and US President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial have receded, dealers said.

The yen also fell due to comments from senior officials as US ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service, who warned Thursday about Japan's ballooning public debt, said Kaneo Ogino, head of foreign exchange at Midland Bank in Tokyo.

The yen sank to 116.45 to the dollar briefly on Friday but rebounded slightly in late trading due to selling by export companies.

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR: The Aussie closed the week down as commodity prices and the strengthening of the US dollar conspired against it.

The currency closed Friday at 62.82 US cents from 63.76 cents the previous week after recovering some of the ground

lost. ’

But the Australian dollar remains caught on the bad side of a dip in commodity prices and continues to be victimized by the strength in the US dollar, economists said.

"The Australian dollar is likely to spend another week groping for direction with commodity prices and the resurgent US dollar the main influences," Colonail State Bank economist Craig James said.

HONG KONG DOLLAR: The Hong Kong unit closed Friday at 7.7485-7.749, compared with 7.7485-7.7495 the previous week.

SINGAPORE DOLLAR: The Singapore dollar ended the week lower against the US dollar to 1.6904 from 1.6795 the previous week.

TAIWAN DOLLAR: The Taiwan dollar was almost unchanged against the greenback over the week to settle at 32.298 Saturday as fears of the yuan's depreciation eased.