BLBG:Yen, Dollar Advance Versus Peers as Stocks Fall Amid Global Slowdown Signs
The yen and dollar rose against most major peers as Asian stocks declined amid signs of a slowdown in the regional economy, boosting demand for refuge currencies.
Australia’s dollar slid against 15 of its 16 most-traded counterparts after a government report showed employers cut jobs for the first time in three months. South Korea’s won fell the most in two weeks against the dollar after the central bank left interest rates unchanged for a sixth month as Europe’s debt crisis hurts exports. The euro snapped a decline against the franc before a European Central Bank meeting and a summit in Brussels to discuss the region’s problems.
“The market is inclining toward risk aversion, as you see stocks are trading lower,” said Junichi Ishikawa, an analyst in Tokyo at IG Markets Securities Ltd. “The dollar and yen are likely to be bought in this kind of environment.”
The Japanese currency rose 0.5 percent to 79.60 per Australian dollar as of 12:49 p.m. in Tokyo from yesterday in New York. It climbed 0.5 percent against the Korean won. The yen traded at 104.03 per euro from 104.18 yesterday and was little changed at 77.65 per dollar. The greenback fetched $1.3396 per euro from $1.3412.
The MSCI (MXAP) Asia Pacific Index of shares lost 0.8 percent.
The number of people employed in Australia fell by 6,300 last month after a revised increase of 16,800 the previous month, the statistics bureau said in Sydney today. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists was for a 10,000 gain.
Korean Rates
Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong Soo and his board kept the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate unchanged at 3.25 percent today, saying in a statement that “in terms of the upside and downside risks to the future growth path, the downside dominates.”
The won weakened 0.5 percent to 1,131.45 per dollar. That’s the biggest drop since Nov. 24. The Kospi Index of shares retreated 0.6 percent.
New Zealand’s central bank kept its key rate at a record low and said global conditions have deteriorated. Governor Alan Bollard omitted any reference to future cash rate increases in his statement, after commenting on such matters in October and September.
Moderate Demand
“Given the current unusual degree of uncertainty around global conditions and the moderate pace of domestic demand, it remains prudent for now to keep the cash rate on hold,” he said today after leaving the rate at 2.5 percent.
The central bank “removed the slight tightening bias that they had in their last statement, largely due to the ongoing uncertainty,” said Khoon Goh, head of market economics and strategy at ANZ National Bank Ltd. in Wellington.
New Zealand’s currency fetched 77.99 U.S. cents from 77.98 yesterday. It slid as much as 0.2 percent against the yen before trading at 60.56 yen from 60.57.
ECB policy makers meeting today will cut the benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 1 percent, according to 53 of 58 economists in a Bloomberg survey. They may also loosen collateral criteria to give banks greater access to cash and offer longer-term loans, said three euro-area officials with knowledge of the deliberations.
The euro traded at 1.23885 Swiss francs from 1.23869 yesterday when it dropped 0.2 percent.
To contact the reporters on this story: Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net; Monami Yui in Tokyo at myui1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net
