Yen Weakens a Second Day as Stock Gains Damp Demand for Safety

[Enivid]

The yen weakened for a second day against the dollar and the euro as gains in stocks reduced demand for the currency as a haven from the financial crisis.

Japan’s currency also fell against the Australian dollar and the Brazilian real as measures of bond risk declined in Europe and Australia after Barclays Plc said it doesn’t need to raise further capital because revenue increased last year. The British pound and the euro strengthened as speculation eased that losses will widen at European banks.

“We’re seeing an improvement in sentiment because it appears Barclays has avoided a crisis,” said Akio Shimizu, chief manager of foreign-exchange trading in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp., a unit of Japan’s largest publicly listed lender. “People will trim their bets on declines in the euro and the pound. There’s a bias for the yen to weaken.”

The yen declined to 89.93 against the dollar as of 7:42 a.m. in London from 89.10 late yesterday in New York. Japan’s currency weakened to 119.22 per euro from 117.51. The euro climbed to $1.3241 from $1.3189.

Sterling touched a one-week high of $1.4132 after Barclays said yesterday it retains 17 billion pounds ($23.9 billion) more capital than required by regulators even after it wrote down another 8 billion pounds of bad loans. The currency rose to $1.4123 from $1.3993.

Britain’s currency plunged to $1.3503 on Jan. 23, the lowest level since September 1985, after the government announced its second bank bailout in three months and a further injection of funds into Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.

From Bloomberg News.

[FXexpert]

In the long run, the USD will continue to rise against most majors due to the safety of the United States for investments.