Dollar closes weaker

THE dollar closed weaker today despite some support from gains on Asian equity markets. At 1700 AEST, the dollar was trading at 73.03 US cents, down from yesterday's close of 73.36 US cents.

During the day, the unit traded between 73.03 US cents and 72.42 US cents.

CMC Markets foreign exchange dealer Tim Waterer said a lack of local economic data forced the local unit to trade in a tight range, with direction coming mainly from Asian stock markets.

"It was was really tracking what had happened in Asian equity markets for most of the day,'' Mr Waterer said.

Tokyo was one of only a few Asian bourses trading today, with most stock exchanges in the region closed for a public holiday.

The Nikkei 225 index was up a little over 1.5 per cent in afternoon trade as investors reacted positively to Japanese data which showed a rise in March factory output.

At 1700 AEST, the dollar was trading at 72.32 Japanese yen, up from Thursday's close of 71.52 yen and at 54.94 euro cents, up from 54.92 euro cents.

The euro finished at 1.3293 US dollars, down from yesterday's close of 1.3359 US dollars and at 131.65 Japanese yen, up from 130.28 yen.

The US dollar finished at 99.06 Japanese yen, up from 97.53 yen.

Mr Waterer said the market was still to digest the news that US auto-maker Chrysler would file for bankruptcy, with a White House official saying the ailing car company was unable to complete its out-of-court restructuring.

"The market is going to be driven in terms of what happens in US equities and any news that comes out in relation to the Chrysler bankruptcy,'' Mr Waterer said.