Yen weaker after US supbrime plan announcement

The yen was weaker on Friday as investors were willing to take more risks with their money after Thursday’s announcement in the US of a plan to freeze interest rates on select subprime mortgages.

In early afternoon trade in New York the yen traded at ¥163.7260 to the euro, at ¥226.5197 to the pound, and at ¥97.9932 to the Australian dollar.

The Swiss franc also weakened on the return to risk.

It took SFr1.1295 to buy one dollar, SFr1.6556 to buy a euro, and SFr2.2905 to buy a pound.

Meanwhile, the US dollar strengthened for the third day in a row after the Labor Department reported that 94,000 jobs were created in November, down from October’s number but more than had been expected, which was seen as a sign that there will not be a recession in the United States.

In afternoon trade it took ¥111.7050 to buy a dollar, slightly less than the ¥111.79 it took earlier in the session, while at the same time the dollar traded at $1.4657 to the euro and at $2.0278 to the pound.

The euro managed a gain of 0.1 percent on the greenback for the week after Thursday’s decision by the European Central Bank to keep interest rates at 4 percent.

Story link: Yen weaker after US supbrime plan announcement