US dollar, Japanese yen stronger on week

Story link: US dollar, Japanese yen stronger on week

The US dollar was generally stronger over the week, helped out by the tendency of investors to avoid risk as markets turned volatile after strong declines in China at the beginning of the week. The greenback added 0.7 percent to $1.3350 versus the euro, while it gained 0.8 percent to $1.9670 in relation to sterling. It did even better than that against emerging markets currencies. The US currency was 2.5 percent higher versus the Turkish lira to TL1.3450 and added 3 percent to R7.2850 in relation to the South African rand.

The dollar was lower, however, against the yen, dropping 0.3 percent to ¥121.70. The yen gained ground versus the euro and sterling as well. The Japanese currency added 0.9 percent to ¥162.50 against the euro, while it gained 1percent to ¥239.30 in relation to sterling. Sterling was hurt by the Bank of England decision to hold interest rates at 5.5 percent, while the Eurozone interest rate hike to 4 percent by the European Central Bank did help the euro, especially since there was no indication in the comments issued with the decision as to whether further rate increases are to come.

Both the Australian and New Zealand dollars gained on the yen during the week, with the Aussie adding 1 percent to ¥102.50 and the kiwi gaining 0.8 percent to ¥91.55. The New Zealand dollar was also higher against the US dollar after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised interest rates there to 8 percent. The kiwi gained 1.2 percent on the greenback to $0.7526, while the Australian dollar also was higher versus the dollar, to $0.8426, after unemployment was down significantly there. The gains against the dollar were a 17-year high for the Australian dollar and a 22-year high for the New Zealand dollar.