Central bank moves send yen, Swiss franc lower

Story link: Central bank moves send yen, Swiss franc lower

The yen and the Swiss franc weakened again Wednesday as a move by several central banks in Europe and North America to inject more liquidity into the banking system induced investors to bet that banks will be more willing to lend money and that the US economy will not enter a recession by seeking out risky carry trades.

The plan, which involved the cooperation of the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank, will introduce up to $40 billion into the system this month through two auctions and provide $24 billion in currency swap lines to the ECB and the Swiss central bank.

The South African rand and the Australia and New Zealand dollars all added at least 2.7 percent versus the yen on the session, as it took ¥98.9943 to buy an Australian dollar in early afternoon trade in New York.

At the same time, the yen traded at ¥112.1050 to the dollar, at ¥164.7944 to the euro, at ¥229.4507 to the pound, and at ¥98.7970 to the Swiss franc.

The yen was the only currency the Swiss franc managed a gain against, while it traded at SFr1.1347 to the US dollar, at SFr1.6680 to the euro and at SFr2.3224 to the pound.

The US dollar was trading at $1.4700 to the euro and at $2.0467 to the pound in early afternoon trade in New York.

Meanwhile, Norway’s national bank raised the interest rate there by a quarter of a percentage point to 5.25 percent, the highest it has been in over four years, sending the krone higher versus both the US dollar and the euro.