The yen and the dollar rose as Asian stocks declined and economists said a report will show orders for US durable goods fell last month, curbing demand for higher-yielding assets.
The Japanese currency also advanced amid speculation domestic investors are repatriating earnings. The Australian dollar fell from near its strongest level this year against the US currency. South Korea’s won ended a two-day advance as the Shanghai Composite Index led a decline in the region’s stocks, tumbling the most in eight months.
“With equities softer, risk currencies are coming off and the dollar and the yen are benefiting,” said Daragh Maher, deputy head of global foreign-exchange strategy in London at Calyon, the investment-banking unit of Credit Agricole SA. “Anything that suggests expectations for growth in China are lower on Wednesday than Tuesday is going to hit the risk currencies.”
The yen strengthened to 94.73 a dollar as of 10:50 am in London, from 94.55 yen on Tuesday in New York. It was at 133.96 a euro from 133.95. The euro fell to $1.4143, from $1.4167 on Tuesday. The 16-nation currency traded in July in a range of $1.3833 to on Tuesday’s high of $1.4304, the strongest level since June 3.
Australia’s currency fell to 82.00 US cents, from 82.68 cents on Tuesday, when it rose to 83.38 cents, the highest level since September 29.
‘Painfully slow’
Orders for durable goods in the US fell 0.6 per cent last month, the first retreat in three months, according to the median of 73 economists’ forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The Commerce Department releases the data at 8:30 am in Washington on Wednesday.
China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index dropped 5 per cent, the most since November 18, as Jiangxi Copper Co said first-half profit fell and China Cosco Holdings Co, the world’s largest operator of dry-bulk ships, forecast a loss. Retail sales in Japan slid 3.0 per cent from a year earlier following a 2.8 per cent drop in May, the trade ministry said on Wednesday in Tokyo.
