Yen, pound lower in holiday-limited trade

Story link: Yen, pound lower in holiday-limited trade

On a day when the Japanese markets are closed to celebrate the emperor’s birthday and many traders in other regions of the world have taken the day off to celebrate Christmas Eve, the yen weakened against almost all major currencies as the equities markets that are open today saw gains.

Markets were higher after Merrill Lynch said it will get an infusion of $6.2 billion from Singapore and ahead of a report due later in the week that is expected to show a gain in durable goods orders in the US in November.

At around noon in New York, the yen traded at ¥114.4600 to the US dollar, at ¥164.9025 to the euro, and at ¥226.3558 to the pound.

Elsewhere, the yen was at ¥99.6088 to the Australian dollar, at ¥87.793 to the New Zealand dollar, and at ¥16.429 to the South African rand.

The pound was also weaker, hitting a record low versus the euro for the second session in a row on UK home prices that were reported 0.3 percent lower in December than they were in November and on continuing suspicion that the Bank of England will cut interest rates again.

The UK currency traded as low as 72.87p to the euro and was trading at 72.85p to the shared currency at around noon in New York.

Meanwhile, the pound also lost ground to the US dollar, with the greenback trading at $1.9776 to the pound at midday in New York.