By: Barbara Zigah
Good economic news out of the United States drove investors back into higher risk, higher yielding assets giving the Euro a push to an 8-week high against the U.S. Dollar in Tokyo trading today. Other high yielding currencies such as the Australian and the New Zealand Dollars also benefited from risk seekers.
As reported at 12:52 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Euro traded at $1.4243 a gain of .1%; yesterday it briefly hit on $1.4299 on the EBS trading platform. The Australian Dollar traded at $0.8249, an increase of .2% and slightly lower than $0.8260, an 8-week high touched on yesterday. Meanwhile, the New Zealand Dollar traded at $0.6567, nearing a 9-month peak touched on last week.
On Monday, a report released by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Agency showed that American home sales surged last month, an indication to investors that the housing market can only improve.
Glenn Stevens, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia commented that the Australian economy had improved enough that upside risks would balance downside ones. He further commented that low interest rates were in danger of inflating housing prices, an indication to some that higher interest rates would be forthcoming. His comments also helped prop up the Aussie.
Upbeat U.S. Economic Data drive Investors to Euro
After working on Wall Street, Barb began her second career as a freelance writer at Daily Forex, where the CEO recognized fresh, untapped potential and was willing to give her a try. She’s never looked back. Since then, she’s worked steadily as a freelance writer and editor in the financial services and Forex-related industry.