By William L. Watts and Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — The U.S. dollar index put in a flat performance Friday, while the Japanese yen flirted with its all-time high versus the greenback as investors continued to shun risky assets.
The dollar index DXY -0.05% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, traded at 74.229, little changed from 74.216 in late North American trading Thursday.
The dollar traded at 76.46 Japanese yen USDJPY -0.04% , down from ¥76.56 late Thursday. The dollar traded as low as ¥76.29 in Asian trading hours, within striking distance of its all-time low of ¥76.25.
The euro EURUSD -0.06% traded at $1.4308, down from $1.4331 on Thursday, while sterling GBPUSD -0.07% traded at $1.6500, little changed from $1.6508.
Asian stocks fell sharply Friday, following in the tracks of a steep rout on Wall Street. European equities remained under pressure and U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open for Wall Street.
The Swiss franc gained ground. The euro EURCHF -0.55% traded at 1.1275 francs, a loss of 0.7%, while the U.S. dollar USDCHF -0.51% changed hands at 78.85 centimes, a loss of 0.6%.
The Swiss National Bank earlier this week took additional steps in an effort to arrest the franc’s sharp rise on safe-haven flows, while Japanese officials have repeated threats to intervene to subdue a rising yen.
Meanwhile, gold has continued to soar, with safe-haven flows credited with sending the yellow metal to another all-time high above $1,880 an ounce on Friday morning.
Intervention threats and other concerns continue to present a conundrum for forex traders seeking safe-haven plays, said Kit Juckes, head of foreign exchange at Societe Generale in London.
“The yen and Swiss franc are going to be the obvious winners, [but] the reluctance of the authorities to see them appreciate ad infinitum is clear,“ he said. “The dollar can gain but that’s temporary. Gold comes out all shiny, yet again, as the ‘solution’ will be easier money.”
Sentiment toward riskier assets took a pounding Thursday, with European banks dropping sharply and after factory activity in the Philadelphia region fell in August to the lowest level for more than two years. Read more on Philly Fed.
William L. Watts is a reporter for MarketWatch in Frankfurt.
Sarah Turner is MarketWatch's bureau chief in Sydney.
