Dollar stalls

TOKYO: The dollar stalled against its peers on Friday as the recovery seen earlier this week petered out ahead of the new quarter, which could potentially bring renewed pressure on the greenback.

Against a basket of six other major currencies, the dollar was off 0.2 percent to 89.985.The index was up nearly 0.6 percent for the week, during which it touched a one-week high of 90.178 on factors including easing of concerns over global trade protectionism and perceived progress on North Korea´s nuclear programmme.

"A key part of the dollar´s recent gains were quarter-end flows, with many investors seen to have closed out short positions on the currency to lift the dollar," said Shin Kadota, senior strategist at Barclays in Tokyo. "It remains to be seen if the dollar can retain its gains next week when the new quarter begins, as it will no longer have support from such flows.

Much of the challenging themes will remain the same in the next quarter, such as the health of the U.S. economy and trade issues. "The dollar index was down more than 2 percent for the quarter, its fifth straight quarter of declines.

The U.S. currency, which plumbed a 16-month low of 104.560 on Monday when trade woes roiled global markets, shed 0.2 percent to 106.245 yen.