Risk On Trade Lifts Aussie, Loonie

By: Barbara Zigah

The safe haven currencies fell in Asian trading as commodity-linked currencies staged a comeback. The Japanese Yen fell broadly and extended its fall from the 7-week peak versus the U.S. Dollar struck earlier in the week; as reported at 1:39 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo the U.S. Dollar was trading at 81.284 Yen, up from Monday’s 80.29 Yen; meanwhile the Euro was trading at 106.55 Yen, also well off the Monday trough of 104.62 Yen. Analysts point out that trade data expected out tomorrow will keep the Yen under some pressure, as is the strong possibility that the Bank of Japan will take up new easing measures at its policy meeting next week.

Commodity-linked currencies were given a boost by a banner day on Wall Street, but while the rise in equities helped the Aussie and Canadian Dollars the Euro is still feeling a great deal of pressure from growing worries of Spanish debt contagion. The EUR/USD pair was recently trading at $1.3119, slipping from an earlier high of 1.3173. The Canadian Dollar got a significant boost of more than 1% of its value, breaking below parity yesterday when the Bank of Canada took markets by surprise with a clear intent to raise interest rates given the easing of specific headwinds.