Yen gains on greenback, euro

Story link: Yen gains on greenback, euro

The Japanese yen strengthened against some currencies on Tuesday as investors retreated from risky investments as they worried about continuing problems in the subprime mortgage sector.

The US dollar dropped 0.5 percent to ¥118.56 against the yen in late afternoon trade in New York, while the euro dropped 0.6 percent to ¥162.22 versus the yen.

The Japanese currency didn’t do as well against other currencies, however, dropping 0.2 percent to ¥102.20 against the Australian dollar while it fell 0.5 percent to sterling and the New Zealand dollar, to ¥242 and ¥91.80 respectively.

The euro traded flat versus the greenback at $1.3687, while the pound was up 0.3 percent versus the euro to £0.6745 and added 0.4 percent to $1.3687 versus the US currency.

The tendency during the day of investors to exit risk helped both the Norweigian krone and the Canadian dollar gain on the US dollar, with the krone up 0.4 percent to NKr5.8190 and the Canadian dollar climbing 0.3 percent to C$1.0640.