Dollar, yen rise after disappointing data
Agence France-Presse | 07/03/2009 11:00 AM
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TOKYO - The dollar and the yen rose in Asian trade Friday as fresh worries about the health of the US economy weighed on risk-sensitive currencies such as the euro, dealers said.
The euro fell to $1.3968 in Tokyo morning trade from $1.3997 in New York late on Thursday. The European currency dropped to 133.79 yen from 134.30. The dollar slipped to 95.77 yen from 95.94.
Investors bought the "safe-haven" dollar and yen after US job losses surged to 467,000 in June, lifting the unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent.
The two currencies are seen as relatively safe bets in times of turmoil.
The disappointing data suggest "unemployment will continue to rise, creating a mood of distrust over the green shoots of recovery," said Daisuke Uno, a market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
The jobs report, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, was worse than market forecasts for 365,000 job losses in June. The previous month the number of layoffs had fallen to 322,000.
With US markets closed Friday for the Independence Day holiday, markets were looking to Europe, where manufacturing sector surveys were due in Britain and the eurozone, which will also release retail sales data.
"Data outside of the US have generally been surprising to the upside this week and this has helped support investor sentiment," Barclays Capital analysts wrote in a note.
"So investor sentiment could be sensitive to downside surprises in the data releases," they added.
Last week figures showed business and consumer confidence in the 16-member eurozone jumped to a six-month high in May while German unemployment declined.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank kept its main interest rate steady at a record low of 1.0 percent as ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet downplayed the threat of deflation in the eurozone.
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