The Japanese yen demonstrated a breakthrough growth against almost all major currencies today as the stocks tumbled globally and traders sought the «safe haven» assets.
The yen broke through the 100 per U.S. dollar mark for the first time since April this year. The yen also rose significantly against the euro and the pound today. It reached the lowest since August 2005 against the European currency and the lowest since September 2001 against the Great Britain pound.
The global risk-aversion level got higher yesterday after the International Monetary Fund said that the global economy is heading for the another year of recession in 2009. The yen got even more favorable investment after the Asian stock markets lost more than 5 percent earlier today.
With the current problems in the financial sector world-wide, its hard to believe that anything similar to the old carry trade will return to the Forex market soon. That means that the yen is safe to appreciate significantly against the high-yielding currencies for as long as the Bank of Japan allows it, without intervening into the currency market.
EUR/JPY declined from 138.32 to 137.17 as of 11:16 GMT today with a daily low at 134.17. USD/JPY fell from 101.56 to 100.46 with a daily minimum rate at 98.59. GBP/JPY went down from 177.90 to 175.66 with a minimum at 171.87.
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