Yen, dollar dip as investors bet on higher-yield units

The Japanese yen and the US dollar fell yesterday as last week's above-forecast US jobs data was seen boosting global economic recovery prospects, lifting investor demand for risk and higher-yielding currencies.

The euro gained after supportive comments by key policy makers eased some concerns about the high debt levels of Greece and other euro zone countries. French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised that euro zone countries would help Greece if its financial problems worsened and vowed a crackdown on market speculators.

The euro rose 0.5 per cent against the yen to 123.66 as French President Nicolas Sarkozy's statement aided it. The French president promised debt-ridden Greece that euro zone countries would help it overcome its financial problem.

After shedding its gains, the US dollar against yen fell to 90.25 from the two-week high of 90.69 recently.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, meanwhile, said Greece's financial problems were unlikely to spread to other euro zone countries with high levels of public debt.

"General sentiment is better in the market, which has helped weigh on the yen, while Sarkozy's comments suggesting there could be a bailout helped the euro, but overall we're still rangetrading," said Antje Praefcke, currency strategist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

 

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