Dollar and Yen Up, Euro and Sterling Under Pressure

Asia markets stumbled on the final trading day of the week, as a stronger dollar weighed on commodity prices overnight and snapped Wall Street's three-day winning streak.

Analysts say the weakness is due to the hit that commodity prices took overnight as a result of the stronger dollar. Most commodity prices are denominated in dollars.

In Australia, the ASX 200 was off by 0.92 percent, led by more than 1 percent declines in the financials, energy and materials sub-indexes as banks and resources producers came under pressure.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was off 0.79 percent as the yen maintained relative strength against the dollar. Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi was down 0.41 percent. In Hong Kong, the market returned to trade after being shut on Thursday, with the Hang Seng index dropping 0.68 percent.

Yen Up

A broad decline in commodity and stock prices in major world markets sent investors to low risk assets lifting the yen to a three-year peak against the euro and a five-week high versus the U.S. dollar.

The dollar was down 0.1 percent against the yen at 107.02 yen but was still up 0.4 percent in a choppy week that saw it touch 106.26 yen on Thursday, its lowest since May 4.

The dollar index added 0.3 percent to 94.185, while the euro took a heavy spill and the British pound remained jittery before the upcoming Brexit vote.

According to Kaneo Ogino, director at foreign exchange research firm Global-info Co in Tokyo, "It's very hard to take new positions in dollar/yen now, ahead of next week's central bank meetings, so I think the pair will be range bound for a while."

Cina Coren
Cina Coren is a former Wall Street broker and financial advisor. She holds a Master's degree in Communications and spent many years writing for international news outlets and journalistic publications. Today, Cina spends most of her time writing internet articles and blogs, and reading various newspapers to stay on top of the news.