Yen, Dollar Fall Against Euro as Stocks Gain on Bank Optimism

[Enivid]

The dollar and the yen fell against the euro as rising confidence in the banking industry sapped demand for the currencies after three financial institutions applied to refund government-bailout cash.

The Japanese and the U.S. currencies fell most against the New Zealand dollar, Australian dollar and British pound as the MSCI World Index advanced for a second day. South Korea’s won approached a seven-month high versus the dollar as equity gains spurred demand for higher-yielding emerging-market assets. The pound rose to its strongest level in five months against the dollar as banking stocks climbed.

“The correlation between the level of confidence and risk appetite is still intact,” said Neil Jones, head of hedge-fund sales in London at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. “The yen accelerated declines since the announcement of U.S. banks’ ability and desire to repay funds, which boosted confidence.”

The yen weakened to 131.09 per euro as of 7:26 a.m. in New York, from 130.61 yesterday. The dollar depreciated to $1.3631 per euro from $1.3562. The dollar was little changed against the yen at 96.18, from 96.28 yesterday.

From Bloomberg News.