Asian currencies strengthen versus US dollar

Story link: Asian currencies strengthen versus US dollar

After last week’s holiday, the Japanese yen was helped out on Monday by the perception that the US and Japan are at odds over currency issues as well as by the first increase in land prices in Japan in fifteen years and by comments from the governor of the Bank of Japan that his nation’s economy was “completely on track”.

All of this combined to lift the yen 0.9 percent to ¥111.53 versus the US dollar. The Japanese currency also added 0.9 percent in relation to the euro and sterling, to ¥141.89 and ¥207.29 respectively. The yen added 1.3 percent to ¥85.82 against the Australian dollar.

The yen was not the only Asian currency to advance in relation to the greenback on Monday. The South Korean Won was up 1.3 percent to Won 929.2 versus the US dollar, while the Malaysian ringgit gained 0.4 percent to M$3.592 and the Singapore dollar added 0.2 percent to S$1.5668 versus the US currency. The Taiwan dollar was up in relation to the US dollar as well, to T$31.367 and the Indonesian rupiah gained 0.5 percent to Rp8,730 versus the greenback.

Meanwhile, while the US dollar was down in relation to European currencies early in the day, it was back up to previous levels, sitting at $1.2723 versus the euro, $1.8589 against sterling, and SFr1.2270 in relation to the Swiss franc. The US currency was up 0.5 percent to C$1.1114 versus the Canadian dollar.