VINACHEM

The dollar fell for a second dayagainst the yen as traders speculated whether the U.S. economyis strong enough for Federal Reserve policy makers to consider areduction in stimulus when they meet next week.

The greenback traded near the lowest this month against theeuro before data forecast to show U.S. jobless claims rose. Theyen gained against the single currency as Asian shares halted a10-day advance and Japan’s machinery orders stagnated, spurringdemand for haven assets. Australia’s dollar dropped after thenation’s employers unexpectedly cut payrolls. The New Zealanddollar climbed as the Reserve Bank signaled it may raiseinterest rates earlier than previously expected.

“The Fed will start tapering next week, but I think theymight also be a bit dovish,” said Joseph Capurso, a Sydney-based currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), thenation’s biggest lender. “That might see the U.S. dollar weakenagain in a knee-jerk reaction.”

The dollar dropped 0.6 percent to 99.34 yen as of 7:10 a.m.in London from yesterday. It was unchanged at $1.3311 per euroafter touching $1.3325, the weakest since Aug. 29, in New York.The yen climbed 0.6 percent to 132.21 per euro.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of stocks fell as much as 0.2percent, before becoming little changed.

U.S. jobless claims probably rose to 330,000 in the weekended Sept. 7, from 323,000 in the previous seven-day period,according to the median estimate of economists surveyed byBloomberg News before today’s data.

Taper Bets

The Federal Open Market Committee will meet Sept. 17-18 andis expected to reduce monthly bond buying to $75 billion fromthe current $85 billion pace, according to the median estimatein a Bloomberg economist poll on Sept. 6.

Fed Bank of New York President William C. Dudley speakstoday in Paris. He said in July that economic growth willprobably quicken next year, possibly warranting a reduction instimulus.

“I expect the Fed to alter its forward guidance to keepbond yields anchored while starting to taper monetary easing,”said Noriaki Murao, the New York-based managing director of themarketing group at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. “Thereare few reasons for the dollar to rise as long as U.S. yieldsare capped.”

The benchmark Treasury 10-year note yielded 2.88 percenttoday, having dropped from a two-year high of 3.005 percent onSept. 6.

Japan Challenges

In Japan, machinery orders were unchanged in July from Junewhen they fell 2.7 percent, the Cabinet Office announced todayin Tokyo. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted a 2.4percent increase.

The result underscores limits on corporate investment asJapan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tries to end 15 years ofdeflation and drive an economic revival in the world’s third-largest economy.

Australia’s dollar fell against all of its major peersafter statistics bureau data showed the number of peopleemployed in the country fell 10,800 last month, following adownwardly revised loss of 11,400 jobs in July. Economistspredicted a 10,000 increase in August.

“You can see this as a genuinely soft employment report,”said Ray Attrill, the global co-head of currency strategy atNational Australia Bank Ltd. “The fall back in the Aussie isjustified.”

New Zealand’s dollar jumped after the RBNZ forecast thatbank bill rates will be higher than previously estimated in thefirst half of 2014, indicating the central bank may raisebenchmark borrowing costs within that period.

“The RBNZ’s Monetary Policy Statement this morning wasmore hawkish than we had expected,” Imre Speizer, a marketstrategist in Auckland at Westpac Banking Corp., wrote in a noteto clients. “The initial market reactions should persistthroughout the day.”

The Aussie slid 0.8 percent to 92.52 U.S. cents. The kiwidollar jumped 0.6 percent to 81.28 U.S. cents after touching81.51, the strongest since Aug. 19.