By: Barbara
The Japanese Yen again slipped broadly in trading as reported at 3:45 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo today, on the heels of a rally in Tokyo share prices; the average share price on the Nikkei gained nearly 3% following Wall Street’s climb yesterday. Investors regained some of their appetite for risk, and moved back into high risk currencies. The Australian Dollar, one such high yielding currency, neared 7-month highs against the Japanese Yen, as well as the U.S. Dollar. The AUD gained .5% to trade at 73.89 Japanese Yen, while against the U.S. Dollar, it rose .2% to trade at $0.7665. According to one senior foreign exchange manager in Tokyo, the Japanese Yen becomes vulnerable whenever the stock markets firm and high yielding currencies ultimately benefit.
The Wall Street rally yesterday also benefited the U.S. Dollar slightly, which gained .1% versus the Japanese Yen to trade at 96.37 Yen. All told the U.S. Dollar edged up more than 1% versus the Japanese currency in the United States on the stock market rally. Analysts believe that if the stock markets can continue the trend today, investors might be prompted to move back into high risk, high yielding currencies.