Yen rises against dollar, euro in Asian trade
Saturday, 26 September 2009
TOKYO, Sept 25 (AFP): Yen rose against dollar and euro in Asian trade today after Japan's new finance minister said at G20 talks that Tokyo did not intend to intervene to weaken the Japanese currency.
The dollar fell to 90.70 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, down from 91.26 in New York late Thursday. The euro rose to 1.4680 dollars from 1.4654 while dropping to 133.14 yen from 133.75.
"Investors are monitoring remarks made by key financial figures of the new government led by the Democratic Party of Japan," said Masaki Fukui, senior market economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank's forex division.
Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii told US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh that Japan would stay away from an "intentional" currency policy that would lead to a weaker yen.
Fujii, who took office last week after his centre-left party's election win, has said that in principle he does not support market intervention to achieve a weaker yen, which is good for exporters but makes imports more expensive.
Selling by Japanese exporters repatriating their overseas earnings also pushed down the dollar against the yen, dealers said.
Analysts said the dollar could drop below its January low of 87.10 yen.
If the dollar breaks below 90.00 yen, "levels around 87 yen will come into sight," Hideaki Inoue, chief forex manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Most market players "seem to just want to see a fall below 90 yen," he said.
Geithner for his part reaffirmed Washington's support for a strong currency Thursday, saying: "A strong dollar is very important to the United States."
The G20 leaders were set to say that economic stimulus measures following the financial crisis should be maintained "until a durable recovery is secured," according to a draft of their joint statement.
The dollar fell to 90.70 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, down from 91.26 in New York late Thursday. The euro rose to 1.4680 dollars from 1.4654 while dropping to 133.14 yen from 133.75.
"Investors are monitoring remarks made by key financial figures of the new government led by the Democratic Party of Japan," said Masaki Fukui, senior market economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank's forex division.
Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii told US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh that Japan would stay away from an "intentional" currency policy that would lead to a weaker yen.
Fujii, who took office last week after his centre-left party's election win, has said that in principle he does not support market intervention to achieve a weaker yen, which is good for exporters but makes imports more expensive.
Selling by Japanese exporters repatriating their overseas earnings also pushed down the dollar against the yen, dealers said.
Analysts said the dollar could drop below its January low of 87.10 yen.
If the dollar breaks below 90.00 yen, "levels around 87 yen will come into sight," Hideaki Inoue, chief forex manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Most market players "seem to just want to see a fall below 90 yen," he said.
Geithner for his part reaffirmed Washington's support for a strong currency Thursday, saying: "A strong dollar is very important to the United States."
The G20 leaders were set to say that economic stimulus measures following the financial crisis should be maintained "until a durable recovery is secured," according to a draft of their joint statement.