The Japanese yen rallied today as the decline of prices for crude oil and the subsequent drop of stocks prompted investors to seek out safe alternatives. The yen, being considered a safe currency, was a logical choice.
The decline of prices for crude continues to make traders nervous. While prices rebounded a little today, the bounce was not big enough to ease worries. As a result, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index of equities dropped 1.3 percent.
There were other reasons for concerns too. Among such reasons is fear that the potential victory of anti-austerity Syriza party may lead to exit of Greece from the eurozone.
All in all, the market sentiment was not positive at the start of the year.
USD/JPY dropped from 119.63 to 119.28 as of 2:49 GMT today. EUR/JPY declined from 142.74 to 142.56 and GBP/JPY went down from 182.41 to 182.13.
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