The Japanese safe-have yen managed to rose against the U.S. dollar on Friday, capping a massive sixteen-month high against the greenback on rising concerns towards the looming global trade tensions which made investors seek safety towards Japanese currency. The yen capped a high of 104.635 yen in early Asian trade on the day, putting the dollar on its weakest level since November 2016, before finally settling at 104.90 yen against the U.S. dollar, which was 0.4% higher from the Japanese currency’s previous settlement.
The positive stance of the Japanese yen was buoyed by investors and analysts, who sought security towards the yen as concerns over the looming global trade tension intensifies.
In accordance to this, the United States President: Donald Trump currently signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday, which targets an approximate amount of over $60 billion in Chinese goods with tariffs, which will be effective after a thirty-day negotiation period which gave China some extend to respond.
The euro also fell against the yen, hitting a decline of over 128.96 yen, the single currency’s weakest since August 2017, before recovering an inch of 0.2% to 129.28 yen.
In accordance to this, Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific for OANDA in Singapore mentioned in a note that the yen is often perceived as a safe-haven currency by investors and analysts and continues to be the beneficiary of global risk aversion.