Yen weakens on carry trades

Story link: Yen weakens on carry trades

The yen weakened in relation to the dollar, the euro and the Australian and New Zealand dollars on Wednesday, falling with declines in oil prices which made more investors comfortable with pursuing risky carry trades but tempering declines as the drop in oil prices slowed.

The greenback, meanwhile, was helped by a new report on durable goods orders in the US, which were up 2.5 percent in April when orders for transportation equipment are excluded and even though overall orders were down 0.5 percent in the month.

At just before noon in New York, the yen traded at ¥104.7000 to the US dollar, at ¥163.6147 to the euro, at ¥100.6690 to the Australian dollar and at ¥82.155 to the New Zealand dollar.

The euro was helped by new data showing that inflation grew by more than had been anticipated in Germany in May, growing by 3 percent from last year at the same time and going up 2.6 percent from the previous month.

In midday trade in New York, it took $1.5661 to buy a euro.

While the Australian and New Zealand dollars gained on the yen, both were slightly lower in relation to the US dollar as the price of gold declined in New York and on concerns that economic growth in New Zealand will slow.

At the latest report, the dollar was trading at 96.15 cents US to the Australian dollar and at 78.93 cents US to the New Zealand dollar.