Demand for Safety Wanes, Yen Weakens

The Japanese yen fell against the US dollar and weakened versus the Great Britain pound as the nonfarm payrolls in the US grew and the Asian stocks rallied, decreasing demand for the safer currencies.

The US nonfarm payrolls posted the increase by 151,000 in October, following the decline by 41,000 in September. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional shares gained as much as 1.2 percent. The VIX Index, the measure of market volatility which is often called the Wall Street’s “fear gauge”, dropped 5.3 percent yesterday, signaling that the traders became more confident in the stocks’ gains.

The quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve boosted commodities and the low interest rates in the developed countries prompt the investors to turn to the higher-yielding currencies, decreasing demand for the yen as the safe haven. The speculation that Japan may intervene to weaken the currency also drives the yen down.

USD/JPY closed at 81.25 after opening at 80.70 and rising to 81.46. GBP/JPY closed at 131.45 after it opened at 131.31; the currency pair reached the intraday high of 132.00 and the intraday low of 130.48.

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