By: Barbara Zigah
The Japanese Yen moved higher in Asian trading today, gaining against high-yielders following the release of mixed economic reports coming out of China. Retail sales and industrial output in China both rose more than expected last month, initially pushing the Yen lower; later in the day, upon the release of data showing that Chinese investment and loan funding was lower than originally expected, the Yen reversed itself and made broad gains.
As reported at 4:05 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the single currency Euro slipped .2% to trade at 134.37 Yen, and had gone as low as 133.80 Yen at one point in the day. Another high yielder, the Australian Dollar, traded at 83.34 Yen, a .2% decline. Later this week, Australian unemployment numbers will be released, and investors are anxious to scrutinize the data for a clue as to the direction of interest rates.
The U.S. Dollar Index also fell broadly following the release of the Chinese data, striking a new 15-month trough of 74.889 .DXY before recovering slightly to 75.057 .DXY. The U.S. Dollar has fallen out of favor with investors, who expect no change in the historic low U.S. interest rates for some time to come, and recent Federal Reserve sentiment reinforces investor belief and call for wariness.
Japanese Yen Firms on Mixed Chinese Data
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.