Yen pressed on BOJ nominee comments

In Tokyo afternoon trade, the greenback bought 96.10 yen, against 95.97 yen in New York late Friday, while the euro also strengthened at 125.00 yen from 124.83 yen.

The euro fetched US$1.3011 from US$1.3004, as markets look ahead to a batch of eurozone economic data this week and after Fitch downgraded Italy's debt rating, citing political instability.

Haruhiko Kuroda, a finance veteran and the government's choice to head the Bank of Japan, said under his stewardship the BOJ would move to meet a two-percent inflation target that policymakers adopted in January.

However, he threw cold water on talk of buying foreign bonds, effectively an easing measure as it would require selling huge amounts of yen to purchase the foreign-denominated debt.

Such purchases would aggravate months-long criticism from abroad that Tokyo was devaluing the yen to help exporters, risking a global face-off in which rival nations drive down their currencies.

The dollar also strengthened after the U.S. Labor Department on Friday reported 236,000 jobs were generated in February and the U.S. unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in January.

The dollar was mixed against other Asia-Pacific currencies.

It firmed to 1,094.30 South Korean won from 1,092.00 won last week, and to SG$1.2483 from SG$1.2467.

It weakened to 9,687 Indonesian rupiah from to 9,695 rupiah, to 29.73 Thai baht from 29.78 baht, to 54.22 Indian rupees from 54.45 rupees, and to 40.69 Philippine pesos from 40.72 pesos.

The Australian dollar slipped to US$1.0222 from US$1.0243 while the Chinese yuan strengthened to 15.42 yen from 15.28 yen.

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