Yen weakens on comments, debt-level ratings

Yen weakens on comments, debt-level ratings

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The Japanese yen weakened Monday on comments from Japan’s Vice Finance Minister that “excessive� moves by the currency could be bad for the nation’s economy and on a move by Moody’s Investors service to set both Japan’s local and foreign-currency debt levels at Aa2.

At just past 11 a.m. in New York, the yen traded at ¥95.77 to the US dollar and at ¥129.2617 to the euro, while the Japanese currency was at ¥11.1175 to the South African rand, at ¥46.038 to the Brazilian real and at ¥72.7449 to the Australian dollar.

The pound gained on the greenback and the euro after recent declines for the currency sent demand higher and made UK property less expensive compared to property in the rest of Europe.

Gains for the pound came after UK house prices were reported to have added 2.4 percent in May from April’s levels at a time when mortgages are becoming more accessible to prospective buyers and on a separate report that retail sales were up 6.3 percent in the UK in April from April 2008.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) recommended that its customers buy the pound amid further positive comment on the currency from Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) and Credit Suisse (SWX: CSGN; NYSE: CS).

In late morning trade in New York, the pound traded at 88.24p to the euro, while it took $1.5295 to buy a pound.

The Indian rupee strengthened versus the greenback on the news that the country’s ruling Congress party won enough seats in elections there to form a new government without Communist support, trading at 47.775 rupees to the US dollar at late morning in New York.