By: Barbara Zigah
The high yielding, high risk Aussie extended yesterday’s losses in Asian trading today. Versus the safe haven U.S. Dollar and Japanese Yen currencies, the Australian Dollar had, at one point in the session, lost nearly 1% of its value versus both currencies on investor profit taking. As reported at 12:12 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Australian Dollar slipped against the greenback to $0.8210, a fall of .5%, and versus the Yen, fell to 74.02 Yen, a decline of .4%. Traders suggest that forex market liquidity appears to be drying up, driving the trend toward safe haven currencies and putting pressure on the growth-linked Australian Dollar.
The common currency Euro also slipped in Asia, returning the majority of last week’s gains. This weekend’s bailout of Spanish bank, CajaSur, has highlighted the weakness of the Euro-zone’s banking sector, and raised concerns that still more Euro-zone banks will require rescuing by already cash strapped Euro-zone nations. Versus the U.S. Dollar, the Euro slipped .5%, to trade at $1.2312. This month, the Euro has lost better than 7% of its value versus the U.S. currency, swiftly approaching the largest monthly fall in more than one year.