Japanese Yen Plunges Amid Escalating Asian Stocks
On Wednesday in Asia, the Japanese yen fell against the U.S. dollar in the foreign exchange market.
Meanwhile, the Chinese yuan strengthened as traders maintained to focus on advancements on the coronavirus border.
Moreover, the USD/JPY pair earned 0.2% to 110.04. It was after the Japanese yen dropped some safe-haven appeal due to the small surge in Asian stocks today.
Additionally, the USD/CNY pair also grew by 0.1% to 7.0012 in some forex trading.
On the other side, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has set the yuan reference rate at 7.0012 against Tuesday’s fix at 6.9826.
However, the US dollar index that tracks the greenback versus a basket of other currencies edged up 0.1% to 99.370.
In a news report, the Hubei province registered 132 deaths for February 18.
According to government data, China has 74,186 verified cases of the virus so far.
As the new instances in Hubei tumbled for a second day, the World Health Organization warned that “every scene is still on the table.”
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Indications of Epidemic Headway
The warning is in terms of the epidemic’s progress and that it was too early to know if the outbreak was suppressed.
Chris Weston, head of research at Melbourne brokerage Pepperstone, stated in a local news report, “The market is trying to model itself on coronavirus, and it’s struggling really hard to understand how that goes, and that’s pushing capital into the U.S.”
Weston added, “The U.S. remains that least-dirty T-shirt, the best house in a fairly shabby-looking neighborhood. As a destination for capital, it’s still the light that you look for.”
However, after falling to near a two-year low yesterday, the EUR/USD pair steadied at 1.0793 in the FX market.
The matter happened as investor sentiment in Germany weakened more than anticipated in February. It is also adding up to worries about the current weakness in the eurozone.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar remains to earn admirers on the same day.
It is with China’s coronavirus progressing to batter economies in Asia and Europe, demonstrating very few indications of development while the U.S. economy presents a reasonably strong glow.
For the first time since April 2017, EUR/USD traded at 1.0798, after driving as low as $1.0786.
The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback counter to a basket of six other currencies remained at 99.323.
Recently, it has climbed as high as 99.382, at heights not seen for over two years.
On the flip side, the USD/JPY pair inched up by 0.2% to 110.09. It is along with the GBP/USD pair that traded at 1.30, while USD/CNY traded around the physiologically relevant seven levels.
