By: Barbara Zigah
In Asian trading today, the common currency Euro continued its slide versus the U.S. Dollar on resurfacing investor worries about the Eurozone’s debt problems, giving investors a reason for profit taking.
One dealer in Tokyo noted that much of the profit taking was being done by hedge fund operators, as their year-end book closing approaches. Most players see the U.S. Dollar resuming earlier weakness as soon as portfolios have been cleared out; as one analyst put it there is no “good” reason that the greenback should remain strong.
As reported at 1:35 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Euro traded against the greenback at $1.3761, down from New York late trading of $1.3772. The U.S. Dollar was lower against the Japanese Yen, trading at 81.78 Yen, off from yesterday’s late New York trade of 81.83 Yen, attributed in large part to a sell-off by Japanese exporters.
Dealers commented that the Yen’s strength was largely due to technical factors, including some automated stop-loss buy orders. The long term trend is still predicted to hold near the U.S. Dollar’s record low of 79.75 Yen, and investors remain wary of the possibility of intervention by the Japanese authorities.