Yen, pound weaker to start week

On a day of limited trade due to holidays both the pound and the yen weakened.

The pound hit a record low versus the euro for the second consecutive session after UK home prices that were reported to have dropped another 0.3 percent lower in December as well as on continuing sentiment that the Bank of England will cut interest rates again.

The UK currency traded as low as 72.87p to the euro and was trading at 72.85p to the shared currency at around noon in New York, while it traded at 50.57p to the US dollar at midday in New York.

With Japanese markets closed to observe the emperor’s birthday, the yen weakened against almost all major currencies as the equities markets that are open today gained on hopes of a gain in US durable goods orders in November and after the announcement that Singapore will put $6.2 billion into Merrill Lynch.

At around noon in New York, the yen traded at ¥114.4600 to the US dollar, at ¥164.9025 to the euro, at ¥226.3558 to the pound, at ¥99.6088 to the Australian dollar, at ¥87.793 to the New Zealand dollar, and at ¥16.429 to the South African rand.

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