Greenback, yen strengthen

Story link: Greenback, yen strengthen

After former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan expressed worry that the Chinese stock market could suffer a “dramatic contraction”, the yen and the US dollar strengthened and emerging market currencies were halted in their gains versus the greenback.

The yen gained as investors backed off from risky carry-trades after Mr. Greenspan’s remarks. Investors also became less interested in risky investments due to the gains in yields among US Treasury bonds. By midday trade in New York, the Japanese currency had added 0.2 percent against the US dollar, sterling, and the Australian dollar, to ¥121.40, ¥241.20 and ¥99.80 respectively. It had added 0.3 percent in relation to the euro, to ¥163.25 and was up 0.4 percent to ¥88.34 against the New Zealand dollar.

Meanwhile, the US dollar added 0.1 percent to $1.9840 in relation to sterling, while it added 0.2 percent against the Swiss franc to SFr1.2290 and against the euro, to $1.3430. Emerging market currencies, meanwhile dropped versus the greenback. The Turkish lira fell 0.8 percent to TL1.3320, while the South African rand dropped 1 percent to R7.1305 versus the dollar.