TOKYO -- The dollar was rangebound against the yen Friday as rumors of market intervention flew around the market and investors awaited possible confirmation from the Bank of Japan (BOJ), dealers said.

The greenback fetched 117.70-73 yen at 11:00 A.M.

(0200 GMT) compared with 117.75-85 yen Thursday afternoon in New York.

"The market interest is on intervention by the MOF (Ministry of Finance)," said MCM analyst Hiromi Ookawara. "No one knows for sure but people assume there was intervention yesterday."

Investors believe the BOJ, acting as an agent of the Finance Ministry, sold yen for dollars late Thursday in Tokyo, possibly also operating in European markets as well, for the second time this week, said Ookawara.

Total intervention was probably between 500 billion and one trillion yen (4.3 billion - 8.5 billion dollars), he added.

The Bank of Japan will unveil changes in the current account balance at 7:00 P.M. (1000 GMT), which could indicate whether authorities did intervene.

Finance Vice Minister of International Affairs, Zembei Mizoguchi, declined to comment directly on the speculation. "If the markets clearly felt there was intervention by the ministry, we will not deny that but recently we are employing a variety of methods," Mizoguchi said. "We will not comment on any activity that is ongoing."

The ministry has not asked foreign authorities to intervene on its behalf.

"Recently we have not done it that way because we can directly do it. We can do it any time because the forex market is global.

Whenever we are doing something, we always inform foreign authorities," Mizoguchi told reporters.

Investors were eagerly awaiting the release of Central Bank data, said Ookawara. "But the size has already been priced into the market so it won't be a surprise," he added. "In position terms, the market is close to square now."

News that Iraq has written to Chief UN Arms Inspector Hans Blix agreeing in principle to destroy its banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles was positive for the dollar.

"But we see this kind of stuff change every day, so the market just reacts to each case, we can't expect anything firm ... it is sometimes dollar positive, sometimes dollar negative," said Ookawara.

The euro was meanwhile locked in a range against other major currencies, swapping hands at 1.0746 dollars at 11 A.M. against 1.0735-0745 dollars in New York late Thursday.

Against the yen, the euro was trading at 126.51 compared with 126.40-50 Thursday afternoon in New York.

"It is very quiet," noted Ookawara. (AFP)