Yen gains on risk aversion

Yen gains on risk aversion

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The yen strengthened on Wednesday as investors once again declined to risk their money in carry trades, while the US dollar declined on new data on home sales that was much worse than had been anticipated.

In midday trade in New York, the yen had added 0.7 percent to ¥157.10 in relation to the euro and was 0.8 percent higher to ¥232.27 versus sterling, while it had added 1 percent to ¥94.85 against the Australian dollar and was up 2.1 percent to ¥79.20 in relation to the New Zealand dollar.

Meanwhile, with pending home sales down by 12.2 percent in July in the United States, substantially below the 2.2 percent decline that had been anticipated, the greenback lost 1.2 percent to $2.0160 against sterling while it fell 0.3 percent to $1.3640 versus the euro and dropped 1 percent to ¥115.20 in relation to the yen.

North of the border, however, the Canadian dollar fell 0.4 percent to C$1.0530 versus the US dollar after the Bank of Canada held interest rates steady at 4.5 percent.