Back to Google News Yen climbs after Japan minister's G20 remarks

LONDON — The yen climbed against the dollar and the euro on Friday after Japan's new finance minister said at Group of 20 talks that Tokyo did not intend to intervene to weaken the Japanese currency.

The dollar fell to 90.56 yen in London morning trade from 91.26 in New York late Thursday.


The euro rose meanwhile to 1.4691 dollars from 1.4654 dollars.

"Investors are monitoring remarks made by key financial figures of the new government led by the Democratic Party of Japan," said Masaki Fukui, senior market economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank's forex division.

Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii told US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh that Japan would stay away from an "intentional" currency policy that would lead to a weaker yen.

Fujii, who took office last week after his centre-left party's election win, has said that in principle he does not support market intervention to achieve a weaker yen, which is good for exporters but makes imports more expensive.

Selling by Japanese exporters repatriating their overseas earnings also pushed down the dollar against the yen, dealers said.

Geithner for his part reaffirmed Washington's support for a strong currency, saying: "A strong dollar is very important to the United States."

The G20 leaders were set to say that economic stimulus measures to cope with the global financial crisis should be maintained "until a durable recovery is secured," according to a draft of their joint statement.

"The G20 draft communique does not appear to hold many surprises to rattle the markets," said Calyon analyst Stuart Bennett.

"In line with cautious comments that have flowed from policymakers prior to the meeting, the Group appear to have agreed to avoid a premature withdrawal of stimulus measures.

"This approach underlines the fact that despite the pick-up in activity, the global recovery remains vulnerable."

Bennett added that the safe-haven dollar should win some support as many investors become less willing to take risks amid an unconvincing performance on global stock markets.

In London on Friday, the euro was changing hands at 1.4691 dollars against 1.4654 dollars late on Thursday, at 133.03 yen (133.75), 0.9162 pounds (0.9127) and 1.5115 Swiss francs (1.5097).

The dollar stood at 90.56 yen (91.26) and 1.0290 Swiss francs (1.0300).

The pound was at 1.6033 dollars (1.6053).

On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold retreated to 999.94 dollars an ounce from 1,009.75 dollars an ounce late on Thursday.