BS: Yen Falls as Stocks Climb Amid Fading Demand for Haven Assets
By John Detrixhe
Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The yen fell against most of its major peers as stock markets climbed, reflecting reduced demand for haven assets amid signs U.S. employment and economic growth are strengthening.
The Japanese currency slipped the most against the South African rand and Canada’s dollar as Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures climbed 0.4 percent after the number of applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropped last week to the lowest since April 2008, signaling the economy may resist turmoil from Europe’s debt crisis. The euro weakened against the greenback as Italy’s Senate approved Prime Minister Mario Monti’s 30 billion-euro ($39 billion) emergency budget plan.
“We’re seeing less collateral damage from the euro zone,” said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. “There’s a grand theory that when Europe sneezes the world catches cold, and it’s not playing out at this point.”
The yen slipped 0.1 percent to 78.17 dollars at 9:39 a.m. New York time. Japan’s currency weakened 1.3 percent to 9.5849 against the rand and 0.4 percent to 76.31 per Canadian dollar. The U.S. currency rose 0.1 percent to $1.3039 per euro.
--Editor: Paul Cox, Greg Storey
To contact the reporter on this story: John Detrixhe in New York at jdetrixhe1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net
