Tokyo, Feb 16:  The dollar hovered near a one-month low against the yen on Friday after fa

Tokyo, Feb 16: The dollar hovered near a one-month low against the yen on Friday after falling the previous session on surprisingly robust Japanese growth data and some soft U.S.data.

The yen rallied across the board on Thursday after data showed that Japan's economy grew at an annualised pace of 4.8 percent in the October-December quarter, bolstering expectations for a Bank of Japan rate rise next week.

The dollar extended its losses after data showed foreign investors were net sellers of U.S. securities for the first time in nearly two years in December, and tumbled nearly 1.3 percent against the yen on the day.

While the dollar could get some respite from yen-selling flows such as those related to the launch of investment trusts that target overseas assets, any advance is likely to be limited, said a trader for a major Japanese trading house.

''The dollar fell below 120 yen after the GDP but traders were buying dollars after that... From Tokyo trading hours to London people were basically selling yen,'' the trader said.

''Even with the GDP the dollar was being bought at levels above 120 yen for some time, and I think yesterday's low during Tokyo trading of 119.77 yen may prove to be heavy,'' he added.

The dollar was trading at 119.30 yen as of 2330 GMT, little changed from late U.S. trading on Thursday, and up slightly from a one-month low of 119.17 yen hit on electronic trading platform EBS on Thursday.

The euro was steady at 156.73 yen and $1.3134 holding near a six-week high on EBS of $1.3173 struck on Thursday after the U.S.capital flows data.

A Reuters poll on Thursday found market players evenly split on whether the BOJ will raise rates next week, with 24 of 49 traders and analysts in Tokyo's currency and bond markets expecting a move.

Five respondents see the BOJ waiting until its March meeting to raise rates.

Even if the BOJ bumps up rates to a decade-high 0.5 percent from 0.25 percent, many market players believe the Japanese currency would still be hobbled by its very low yield compared with other major currencies.

Reuters