RTRS: Yen rises broadly as investors cut riskier bets
TOKYO (Reuters) - The yen rose broadly on Tuesday to hit one-month peaks against the euro and Australian dollar as investors kept cutting bets on riskier assets amid growing doubts about the sustainability of a nascent economic recovery.
Regional stock markets dropped with Tokyo's Nikkei share average sliding 3 percent to track a broad sell-off in U.S. stocks, as investor risk appetite faded after a gloomy World Bank report.
Commodity-linked currencies such as the Aussie fell against the dollar and the yen as oil prices remained on the defensive in Asian trade after a near 4 percent drop the previous day to below $67 a barrel.
Currency analysts at Barclays Capital said they thought the drop in oil prices which came amid speculation of a fall in China imports, was the main factor behind the sell-off in equities and pointed to downside risks for metals and farm goods' prices.
"Commodity currencies were unsurprisingly the biggest losers overnight and given the run-up in some of these currencies over the past few months, it seems likely that position liquidation will keep them under pressure," the Barclays analysts said in a note to clients.
Traders also reduced short positions in the greenback ahead of a two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting this week and a record sale of U.S. Treasury two-year notes later on Tuesday which could add to market volatility.
"The market looks to be in a corrective phase before the half-year end, meaning the dollar and the yen are likely to be supported," said Kosuke Hanao, head of treasury product sales at HSBC in Tokyo.
The euro fell as low as 131.60 yen on trading platform EBS, its lowest since late May, although it edged back to 132.13 yen, down 0.6 percent from late New York trade. It has risen about 18 percent versus the yen since mid-January.
The euro dropped 0.1 percent to $1.3857, but kept well above this month's low of $1.3748.
The dollar fell as low as 95.11 yen on EBS, a three-week low, but edged back to 95.33 yen, down 0.6 percent.
Traders said dollar/yen may be set to fall further after a break below 95.50 yen as charts suggests the next key point would be around 94.28 yen, a 50 percent retracement of its run up to April's high of 101.45 yen from January's low of 87.10 yen.
The Australian dollar dropped to one-month lows against the dollar and the yen, hurt partly by a 5 percent drop iTOKYO (Reuters) - The yen rose broadly on Tuesday to hit one-month peaks against the euro and Australian dollar as investors kept cutting bets on riskier assets amid growing doubts about the sustainability of a nascent economic recovery.
Regional stock markets dropped with Tokyo's Nikkei share average sliding 3 percent to track a broad sell-off in U.S. stocks, as investor risk appetite faded after a gloomy World Bank report.
Commodity-linked currencies such as the Aussie fell against the dollar and the yen as oil prices remained on the defensive in Asian trade after a near 4 percent drop the previous day to below $67 a barrel.
Currency analysts at Barclays Capital said they thought the drop in oil prices which came amid speculation of a fall in China imports, was the main factor behind the sell-off in equities and pointed to downside risks for metals and farm goods' prices.
"Commodity currencies were unsurprisingly the biggest losers overnight and given the run-up in some of these currencies over the past few months, it seems likely that position liquidation will keep them under pressure," the Barclays analysts said in a note to clients.
Traders also reduced short positions in the greenback ahead of a two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting this week and a record sale of U.S. Treasury two-year notes later on Tuesday which could add to market volatility.
"The market looks to be in a corrective phase before the half-year end, meaning the dollar and the yen are likely to be supported," said Kosuke Hanao, head of treasury product sales at HSBC in Tokyo.
The euro fell as low as 131.60 yen on trading platform EBS, its lowest since late May, although it edged back to 132.13 yen, down 0.6 percent from late New York trade. It has risen about 18 percent versus the yen since mid-January.
The euro dropped 0.1 percent to $1.3857, but kept well above this month's low of $1.3748.
The dollar fell as low as 95.11 yen on EBS, a three-week low, but edged back to 95.33 yen, down 0.6 percent.
Traders said dollar/yen may be set to fall further after a break below 95.50 yen as charts suggests the next key point would be around 94.28 yen, a 50 percent retracement of its run up to April's high of 101.45 yen from January's low of 87.10 yen.
The Australian dollar dropped to one-month lows against the dollar and the yen, hurt partly by a 5 percent drop in copper futures which added to a 2.7 percent decline in the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index the previous day.
Lower commodity prices are bad news for the Aussie because Australia is a leading seller of commodities such as iron ore, coal and wheat.
The Aussie fell as low as $0.7810, its lowest since late May, before trading at $0.7839, down 0.3 percent on the day. It slid to 74.36 yen before rebounding to 74.64 yen, still down 1.1 percent.
But it has gained 24 percent against the U.S. dollar and 33 percent against the yen since its rally began in the first quarter of this year. n copper futures which added to a 2.7 percent decline in the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index the previous day.
Lower commodity prices are bad news for the Aussie because Australia is a leading seller of commodities such as iron ore, coal and wheat.
The Aussie fell as low as $0.7810, its lowest since late May, before trading at $0.7839, down 0.3 percent on the day. It slid to 74.36 yen before rebounding to 74.64 yen, still down 1.1 percent.
But it has gained 24 percent against the U.S. dollar and 33 percent against the yen since its rally began in the first quarter of this year.
