Yen weaker as equities rally

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The yen weakened on Thursday as equities markets began to recover a bit from big declines that had sent investors fleeing from risk, helping the yen to make gains.

In midday trade in New York, the yen had dropped 0.1 percent versus both the US dollar and the euro, to ¥119 and ¥162.70, while it dropped 0.2 percent to ¥241.80 in relation to sterling and fell the same percentage to ¥101.90 against the Australian dollar.

The yen was 0.3 percent lower versus the New Zealand dollar to ¥91.17.

The euro was higher briefly in relation to the greenback, but it eased back and traded even at $1.3670 versus the dollar and at £0.6725 against sterling, unchanged in both cases.

The rise came immediately following comments from European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said that “strong vigilance” will be necessary to guard against risks to price stability, a phrase that has come to mean “rates will rise next month” to many analysts.

The remarks came after the ECB chose to hold eurozone interest rates at 4 percent for the time being, while the Bank of England also held interest rates even, at 5.75 percent.