The yen, regarded as a refuge currency, hit a six-week high against the euro after the World Health Organization affirmed that the swine flu is spread and cannot be contained.
The yen had sharply increased since the announcement that the swine flu may become a pandemic health issue, reflecting also in a terrible Monday for the stock markets. In the United States, not only the pig flu raised market fears, but the Wall Street Journal affirmed that different American banks were told by regulators that they are lacking funds. In Asia, the swine flu concerns made emergent-markets high-yielding currencies such as the Malaysian ringgit and the South Korean won to lose value, as investors tend to avoid risk in situations of unknown ending. The euro continued to weaken against the yen, a trend that started in the beginning of April, due to multiple socioeconomic speculations and data.
The swine flu caused a phenomena amid investors, making them to escape riskier positions in emergent-markets and to prefer safer refuges such as those provided by the green back and the yen. Speculators opinions are rather similar, forecasting losses in the stock markets until the swine flu effects for the global society can be accurately predicted, and the yen, a conservative investment in times of uncertainty will be likely to continue its rally during the next few days.
The EUR/JPY traded at 124.92 from 126.95 while the NZD/JPY in the intraday comparison fell from 54.57 to 53.36.
If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Japanese Yen,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.