The euro rose for a second day before data today that economists said will show consumer confidence in the currency bloc improved. The yen reversed an earlier slide as investors speculated the Bank of Japan’s policy board will refrain from adding to monetary stimulus until new leadership takes over. The currency fell earlier after Japan posted a record trade deficit. New Zealand’s dollar plunged after the central bank said it’s prepared to intervene to weaken its currency. “The euro continues to respond to the stabilization -- and it’s no more than that -- in the euro zone,� said Imre Speizer, a strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Auckland. “But it’s a positive signal for market confidence. Investors are feeling better, or at least no worse, about prospects for the region.� The euro climbed 0.2 percent to $1.3412 as of 2:21 p.m. in Tokyo and slid 0.2 percent to at 125.06 yen. Japan’s currency dropped as much as 0.2 percent before trading at 93.25 per dollar, 0.3 percent stronger. It touched 94.46 on Feb. 11, the weakest since May 2010. The European Commission will probably say today that its index of consumer confidence improved to minus 23.2 this month from minus 23.9 in January, according the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. That would follow data from yesterday showing investor confidence in Germany, the region’s biggest economy, jumped to a three-year high. ’Doing Enough’ The yen resumed gains after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in parliament that the need had lessened to establish a fund to buy foreign bonds. Investors are trying to assess Abe’s commitment to ending more than a decade of deflation as he prepares to nominate a successor for BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa. The central bank last month adopted a 2 percent inflation target without a deadline and said it would start open-ended asset purchases next year. Shirakawa and two deputies will step down on March 19, and a new board will hold its first policy meeting on April 3-4. “Can we keep the same pace of yen weakness though we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next two months?� said Satoshi Okagawa, a senior global markets analyst in Singapore at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., a unit of Japan’s second-biggest financial group by market value. “The answer is no.� Record Deficit The yen has weakened 15 percent in the past three months, the worst performer among 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar has dropped 1 percent and the euro gained 4.1 percent. The yen slid earlier after the Yomiuri newspaper said former BOJ Deputy Governor Toshiro Muto may be taken off a list of candidates for governor of the central bank. He was considered to be less dovish than other candidates, according to BNP Paribas SA, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and Nomura Holdings Inc. Japan posted a trade deficit of 1.63 trillion yen ($17.4 billion) in January, the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo today, the biggest shortfall on record dating back to 1947. Wheeler’s Warning In New Zealand, central bank Governor Graeme Wheeler said the monetary authority is prepared to step in to curb gains in the nation’s currency. “When the New Zealand dollar is coming under upward pressure, we want investors to know that the kiwi is not a one- way bet,� Wheeler said in a speech to manufacturers and exporters in Auckland today. The New Zealand dollar traded 0.6 percent lower at 84.10 U.S. cents after falling as much as 0.9 percent. It has gained 1.5 percent this year following a 6.6 percent rise in 2012. To contact the reporters on this story: Masaki Kondo in Singapore at mkondo3@bloomberg.net; Kevin Buckland in Tokyo at kbuckland1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net

Source