Market News

With Japan’s opposition party winning yesterday’s election in Japan, the Japanese Yen touched on a 7-week peak against major currencies. Versus the U.S. Dollar, the Japanese Yen traded at 92.54 Yen, a gain of nearly 1% on the EBS trading platform.

In Friday’s trading in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar traded mixed. As reported at 3:17 p.m. (JST), the U.S. Dollar Index, which is a measure of the greenback’s value versus a group of major currencies, edged up to 78.089 .DXY, an increase of .1%.

Concerned investors, worried that the recent rally in high-risk currencies has reached an end, moved back into the safe-haven of the Japanese Yen, pushing the Yen up broadly in Asian trading today.

Returning earlier gains, both the U.S. Dollar and the Japanese Yen declined in Asian trading today, as the volatility of China’s share prices rose, prompting investors to move back into commodity-linked, high yielding currencies.

As reported at 2:34 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Japanese Yen saw broad gains in Asian trading today as share prices fell and risk appetite for higher-yielding currencies waned.

As reported at 9:03 a.m. in London, the Japanese Yen fell against both the single currency Euro and the U.S. Dollar as gains in equity markets whetted risk appetite and pointed investors toward high-risk/high-yield currencies.

Chinese share prices again are providing the momentum for the Japanese Yen’s movement versus other major currencies, as investors worry about the possibility of continued weakness in the market, and moved out of higher-risk currencies.

A recovery in global share prices whetted the risk appetite for high-yielding currencies and pushed the Japanese Yen down in trading today.

As reported at 3:30 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, a 2.4% fall in share prices in Asia has helped to push the Japanese Yen higher in Shanghai trading today as cautious investors continue to be apprehensive about returning to their high-risk currencies and trimmed their short positions in the Yen.

As reported at 2:44 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Japanese Yen slipped in choppy Asian trading today, falling from the highest levels hit so far this month versus both the single currency Euro and the U.S. Dollar, and experiencing diminished returns versus other commodity-linked currencies.

The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States concluded its policy meetings yesterday, and investors took their less-than-glowing report of the health of the U.S. economy as an indication that there is still a long way to go.

With the nearly 3% fall of share prices on the .SSEC in China, investors liquidated their Yen short positions in advance of the conclusion of the Federal Reserve policy meetings and the expected policy statement release later today.

The U.S. Dollar held steady versus the single currency Euro in London trading, while investors debated whether or not the greenback could continue the rally on the heels of the report last week of lower-than-expected job losses in the United States in July.

As reported at 8:23 a.m. (BST) in London, the U.S. Dollar held steady versus the Pound Sterling and the single currency Euro, staying close to multi-month lows while investors take a wait-and-see approach to policy decisions expected from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank (ECB).

The U.S. Dollar remains near the lowest price of the year versus the single currency Euro in Asian trading today, generally attributed to improvement in the overall health of the global economies.