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Forex - Yen finds fresh legs as risk aversion spreads
Thu, Jul 26 2007, 16:50 GMT
http://www.afxnews.com
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The yen continued to benefit from a fresh bout of risk aversion in global markets, leading to some unwinding in the carry trade phenomenon which has been plaguing the Japanese currency.
Carry trades are funded in currencies with low yields such as the yen and moved elsewhere where yields are higher such as the Kiwi and Aussie dollars as well as the pound.
"Unwinding of carry trades is hitting the markets rather than the broad dollar-selling as the yen rallies across the board on emerging credit concerns in global credit markets," said Ashraf Laidi at CMC Markets.
Laidi said today's move was a "manifestation of a sharp reduction in global risk appetite emerging from worldwide concerns with hedge fund losses."
To some extent economic data from outside Japan helped the process today. In the UK, where interest rates are at 5.75 pct and heading higher, home price growth stalled in June while in New Zealand, where rates are above 8 pct, the central bank signalled that borrowing costs may not have higher to go.
Also signalling the drop in risk appetite, equity markets were lower with the benchmark FTSE index in London and the DJIA index in New York both slumping over 200 points.
Weak data out of the US also added to the ramping-up in risk aversion, with the dollar also coming under pressure.
In particular, weak new homes data have helped to compound ongoing concerns about the sub-prime mortgage market in the world's largest economy, adding to the risk-averse sentiment in favour of bonds.
Sales of new homes in the US fell sharply for the second straight month to 6.6 pct in June, a level just a touch higher than a seven-and-a-half year low, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 834,000 units. Economists had expected a 905,000 unit rate.
"The new and existing home sales reports (released yesterday) are a clear wake-up call that the housing downturn still has a long way to go," said Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics.
Durable goods orders data from the US also rose at a slower-than-expected pace in June, by 1.4 pct after falling a revised 2.3 pct in May. Economists had predicted a 2.0 pct.
Looking ahead, attention will focus on the regional CPI figures due out tomorrow for Germany, alongside a GfK survey on consumer confidence. In the US, the GDP for the second quarter will be announced, which is forecast to rise 3.1 pct.