TOKYO, June 3 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The U.S. dollar rose to the lower 96 yen zone Wednesday in Tokyo after a series of strong economic data added to rising expectations that the worst may be over for the global economy. At 5 p.m., the dollar fetched 96.25-27 yen versus Tuesday's 5 p.m. quotes of 95.70-80 yen in New York and 96.50-52 yen in Tokyo.
The currency moved between 95.38 yen and 96.38 yen, trading most frequently at 95.65 yen.
The euro traded at $1.4263-4266 and 137.29-33 yen against late Tuesday's quotes of $1.4297-4307 and 136.94-137.04 yen in New York and $1.4124-4126 and 136.30-34 yen in Tokyo.
The dollar, which had traded within a narrow range earlier in the day, recovered the 96 yen line in the afternoon with improved market sentiment for the dollar prompting selling of the yen as demand for the perceived safety of the Japanese currency waned.
"Market sentiment as a whole has been improving due to a slew of economic indicators that suggest we are through the worst," a trader at a Japanese bank said.
In the United States, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that pending home sales jumped 6.7 percent in April from the previous month, suggesting the housing sector is en route to stabilization. Australia's gross domestic product data for the first quarter of this year beat market expectations with a 0.4 percent rise.
The currency market has been optimistic and market players have opted to seek higher-yielding currencies such as the euro, analysts said. The euro rose sharply to the 138 yen line at one point, the highest since last October, and briefly hit a five-month high against the dollar.
Masashi Hashimoto, senior analyst of the global markets sales and trading division at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, said currencies such as the euro that are sensitive to improvement in the global economic outlook are gaining strength.
"The market is running well ahead (of actual economic recovery) with confidence picking up," Hashimoto said. "But whether that trend is able to hold up has yet to be seen."
Ahead of a policy meeting by the European Central Bank, the euro failed to gather further upward momentum, with market players expecting that the central bank would put its key interest rate on hold and might announce further details of its nonstandard measures.
Analysts said market players are looking to see if employment figures would show a respite from deterioration in the U.S. labor market. Automatic Data Processing Inc. will release later Wednesday its employment report, often a pointer to the U.S. government's nonfarm payroll data due out Friday.