One thing small businesses can do is lock in a rate now if they expect the dollar to weaken further.

The dollar has weakened because recent American trade figures have been disappointing.

Should the dollar weaken further, the losses would be realized.

Others in Japan are not happy about how much the dollar has already weakened.

In other words, foreign stock funds would have done even better had the dollar weakened, as was predicted at the start of last year.

Why can't that work in reverse when the dollar weakens?

IF the dollar does weaken, it would be quite a break.

The dollar has weakened but its fall is not precipitous, he said.

"I think the dollar has come off its bottom and will not weaken substantially," he said.

The dollar again weakened against sterling, which rose to $1.6625, from $1.6585.