FX Roundup: Yen trailing major currency crosses in European trading

At 1636 GMT, the dollar was up 0.04% against the yen exchanging at JPY123.22. The Japanese currency, a preferred carry trade option, also fell 0.03% against the pound changing hands at JPY186.205.

Jane Foley, senior FX strategist at Rabobank said, “While the yen would likely respond to any increase in the risk of further Bank of Japan easing, due to its safe haven status it also remains sensitive to the general levels of risk appetite with stronger levels of risk appetite likely to chase USD/JPY higher.

“Our concerns regarding China may therefore limit upside potential for USD/JPY in the coming months. Consequently we continue to expect the USD/JPY125 level to offer strong medium-term resistance.”

Meanwhile, the euro also fell 0.45% against the greenback to exchange at a seven-month low of $1.0704, while the pound rose 0.03% to exchange at $1.5117. The dollar also rose 0.29% against the Swiss franc exchanging at CHF1.0065.

Kit Juckes, head of forex at Societe Generale, “There's lots of talk about “Brexit” with UK Prime Minister David Cameron unveiling his reform plan to encourage UK voters to opt to stay in the EU. I don't think Brexit will be a major FX factor until we know when the referendum will take place and then, what opinion polls say. However, there are no positives for sterling in the topic at this point.”

Elsewhere, the New Zealand dollar continued to reverse recent declines against its US counterpart, rising 0.04% to change hands at $0.6535. However, the Australian dollar was still in the red changing hands at US$0.7034, down 0.18%.

In the Americas, the dollar traded higher against the Colombian peso (up 0.47%), but fell against the Chilean peso (down 0.36%), Mexican peso (down 0.03%) and the Brazilian real (down 0.14%).

Rounding up a largely mixed session for commodities linked currencies, the dollar was down 0.26% and 0.25% against the Norwegian Krone and Canadian dollar to change hands NOK8.6438 and CAD$1.3254 respectively.