SF: Yen Slides to Weakest Since May 2010 on Easing Bets; Pound Falls
Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The yen dropped to the weakest since May 2010 against the dollar on speculation Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will select Haruhiko Kuroda to be the next central bank governor, seen as a supporter of aggressive monetary easing.
The currency fell by the most in two weeks against the euro as Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters today that Kuroda would the “right choice.” The pound dropped for a second day against the euro after Moody’s Investors Service cut the U.K.’s credit rating. The euro strengthened for a second day against the dollar on speculation the winners of today’s Italian election will stick with measures to reform the economy.
“The market seems to have formed an opinion that Kuroda is a dove and if he indeed becomes the new BOJ governor, he would be willing to do much more to support growth,” said Geoffrey Yu, a senior currency strategist at UBS AG in London. “The yen is weakening on speculation there will be more policy easing.”
The yen weakened 0.4 percent to 93.79 per dollar as of 7:21 a.m. in New York after sliding to 94.77, the weakest level since May 5, 2010. Japan’s currency slid 1.1 percent to 124.58 per euro after sliding as much as 1.7 percent, the most since Feb. 11. The euro rose 0.6 percent to $1.3274.
The yen has tumbled 6.9 percent this year, the biggest decline among 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The pound has the second biggest loss, sliding 6.1 percent. The euro gained 2.4 percent.
Current BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and two deputies will step down March 19. The prime minister is set to reshape the leadership of the central bank that has adopted his 2 percent inflation target and plans to begin open-ended asset purchases next year.
Deputy Governors
For the next deputy governors, Abe is likely to choose Kikuo Iwata, an academic who has advocated increasing the monetary base, and Hiroshi Nakaso, a senior BOJ executive, according to a government official with knowledge of the discussions who asked not to be named as the talks are private.
The central bank had “substantial room” for further loosening and additional measures may be justified this year, Kuroda, currently president of the Asian Development Bank, said in a Feb. 11 interview.
“While it is well known that Kazumasa Iwata is the most yen-negative governor candidate, a combination of Governor candidate Haruhiko Kuroda and Deputy Governor candidate Kikuo Iwata would be just as yen negative,” Citigroup Inc. analysts wrote in a report dated Feb. 22.
Futures traders increased bets the yen will weaken against the dollar, figures from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed. The difference in the number of wagers by hedge funds and other large speculators on a decline compared with those on a gain -- so-called net shorts -- was 65,891 on Feb. 19, compared with 61,306 a week earlier.
Pound Falls
The pound slid to the weakest since July 2010 versus the dollar after Moody’s cut the U.K.’s rating by one level to Aa1 on Feb. 22, citing weakness in the nation’s growth outlook and challenges to the government’s fiscal consolidation program.
“We’ve been expecting the U.K. to get downgraded this year,” Michael Amey, a money manager at Pacific Investment Management Co. in London, wrote in an e-mailed response to questions. While the impact on gilts will be limited, the pound’s decline “is a symptom of the challenge of deleveraging the U.K. economy,” he wrote.
The pound fell 0.8 percent to 87.71 pence per euro after depreciating to 87.79, the weakest since October 2011. Sterling dropped 0.1 percent to $1.5148 after slipping to $1.5073, the lowest since July 13, 2010.
Euro Gains
The euro rose against all except two of its 16 major counterparts amid speculation the winner of today’s Italian election will maintain austerity measures imposed to stem financial turmoil in the euro area’s third-largest economy.
Pier Luigi Bersani will probably gain a majority in the 630-seat lower house, according to the latest polls published Feb. 8. Initial estimates will be released shortly after voting stations close at 3 p.m. in Rome. The Interior Ministry will start its count with the Senate today and then move on to the Chamber of Deputies.
“The euro appears to be stabilizing after a decline through most of February,” said Lee Hardman, a currency strategist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UJF Ltd. in London. “Heightened political uncertainty following Italian elections remains a downside risk in the near term.”
--With assistance from Kevin Buckland in Tokyo. Editors: Nicholas Reynolds, Paul Dobson
To contact the reporters on this story: Anchalee Worrachate in London at aworrachate@bloomberg.net; Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net
