The yen and dollar fell versus most major counterparts before a U.S. report that economists said will show an expansion in the world’s largest economy is being sustained, damping demand for safer assets. Japan’s currency declined against 12 of its 16 most-traded peers before a U.S. Commerce Department release tomorrow is projected to show housing starts rose in September. Australia’s dollar maintained gains against the greenback as China’s statistics bureau said gross domestic product expanded by more than 9 percent for a ninth straight quarter. New Zealand’s currency snapped yesterday’s declines after the central bank signaled interest rates will probably need to increase. “People are still looking to buy the dips in currencies like the euro and Aussie as we’re seeing a slighter better growth profile coming from the U.S.” said Chris Weston, an institutional dealer at IG Markets in Melbourne. The yen declined 0.2 percent to 105.77 per euro as of 12:20 p.m. in Tokyo after gaining 1.5 percent to 105.55 yesterday in New York. The dollar fell 0.2 percent to $1.3768 per euro and was little changed at 76.82 yen. Australia’s currency advanced 0.2 percent to $1.0181 after earlier climbing as much as 0.6 percent. It rose 0.2 percent to 78.21 yen. New Zealand’s currency traded little changed at 60.83 yen and 79.18 U.S. cents. The so-called kiwi yesterday declined 1.7 percent against the dollar and 2.2 percent versus the yen. China, U.S. Growth Housing starts in the U.S. rose to 590,000 last month from 571,000 in August, the first increase in three months, a Bloomberg News survey of economists showed before the Commerce Department report tomorrow. China’s third-quarter gross domestic product increased 9.1 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today, compared with the median forecast for a 9.3 percent gain. “We can see the overheating of China’s economy has eased, while it held up well despite concern about a slowdown,” said Masahide Tanaka, a senior strategist in Tokyo at Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., a unit of Japan’s third-largest bank by market value. “If you look at these numbers only, it is a risk-on factor,” and is negative for haven currencies like the dollar and yen, he said. To contact the reporters on this story: Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net

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