The dollar ended slightly weaker on Friday against the euro but only because of some slippage earlier in the holiday-dominated global session.
Prices barely moved in illiquid US trading shortened by Good Friday. Europe was closed, US bond and equities markets were also closed and currency trading desks in the US were understaffed.
"There are no flows whatsoever," said Andreas Mann, senior dealer at Commerzbank in New York.
The euro benefited earlier in the global session on Friday as the few dealers at their desks squared up positions ahead of the long weekend, taking it up to around US$1.2100. Europe is also closed on Monday for the Easter holiday.
Around noon on Friday in New York, the euro was at US$1.2091, up marginally from US$1.2075 late Thursday in New York.
The dollar was up at 106.47 yen from 106.26 yen but down a touch against the Swiss franc at 1.2823 from 1.2833. Sterling was unchanged at US$1.8318 from late Thursday in New York.
Commerzbank's Mann says the light US trading on Friday will wind down in the early afternoon. Market positioning will keep the dollar under some pressure before it recovers next week on more good US economic data, starting with retail sales on Tuesday.
"The dollar should strengthen once the weekend's out of the way," he said.
The dollar's upside is also being capped by the spreading violence and chaos in Iraq, analysts say. However, it isn't the only currency to suffer from those geopolitical risks.
The yen initially weakened early in Tokyo trade, where markets were open, following the taking of three Japanese hostages in Iraq on Thursday. An Islamic extremist group has threatened to kill the hostages if Japan doesn't withdraw its troops from the country, which the government has refused to do.
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