RTRS:Dollar rebounds, seen as safest haven as Syria attack looms
(Reuters) - The dollar bounced back from a two-week low against the yen and climbed versus the Swiss franc on Wednesday as traders took the view that it is the safest currency of all as military action against Syria looms.
Strategists added that the yen slipped after Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Kikuo Iwata said the bank will continue its quantitative easing until inflation stabilizes at 2 percent.
The dollar was up 0.5 percent at 97.47 yen, recovering smartly from an intra-day trough of 96.81 yen which was its lowest since August 12. It was also up 0.2 percent against the Swiss franc at 0.9190 francs.
The United States and its allies appear to be gearing up for a military strike against Syria, perhaps within days, as punishment for last week's chemical weapons attacks blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's government.
"The yen and Swiss franc have been supported on safe-haven demand given the developments in Syria, but I think we are now increasingly going to see the dollar taking on the dominant role among the safe-haven currencies and gaining broadly, even against the yen and the Swiss franc," said Ian Stannard, head of European FX strategy at Morgan Stanley.
On Tuesday, the dollar had tumbled about 1.5 percent, its biggest one-day drop versus the Japanese currency since June 11. Reported options expiries at 97.00 yen and 97.70 yen could keep the pair close to those levels.
Stannard said a move above 98.15 yen would be a bullish signal, while analysts said that any further dips in the pair would be limited and that the dollar may settle into a range of roughly 96 yen to 99 yen.
"There will probably be some yen-selling by Japanese players if the dollar were to fall below 95 yen," said Daisuke Karakama at Mizuho Bank in Tokyo, adding that Japanese institutional investors might buy the dollar if it falls to such levels.
The euro was up 0.4 percent versus the yen at about 130.42 yen. Against the dollar, the single currency was down 0.1 percent at $1.3376.
As investors avoided risk, growth-linked currencies like the Australian and New Zealand struggled.
The Aussie was down 0.6 percent at $0.8925 while against the yen it was down 0.1 percent at 87.00 yen after losing 2 percent on Tuesday. A drop below the August 7 low of 86.36 yen would take the Australian unit to its lowest since December.
The New Zealand dollar was down 0.6 percent at $0.7754.
The dollar also benefited from the rout in emerging markets which have been on shaky ground due to an outflow of hot money as investors position for the U.S. Federal Reserve to begin scaling down its bond-buying stimulus next month.
Markets will focus on Bank of England Governor Mark Carney's speech later today where he is expected to reiterate his dovish stance in an attempt to rein in rising market interest rates, which will weigh on sterling.
