The yen rose, snapping a five-day drop versus the dollar, on speculation Japanese exporters took advantage of its slide to a two-week low to buy the currency. The euro advanced for a third day against the dollar before a German report that may show the nation’s labor market is improving. Australia’s dollar touched a record after retail sales grew more than estimated, outweighing an unexpected drop in building approvals. South Korea’s won rose as signs the U.S. recovery is gaining momentum brightened the outlook for exports.
“Exporters are buying the yen,” said Takashi Kudo, general manager of market information services in Tokyo at NTT SmartTrade Inc., a unit of Japan’s biggest phone company. “They may be capitalizing on the yen’s recent slump” to buy the currency at attractive levels.
The yen climbed to 82.73 per dollar at 6:30 a.m. in London from 82.89 in New York yesterday. It earlier dropped to 83.21, the weakest since March 11 when Japan was struck by a magnitude- 9.0 earthquake. The Japanese currency was at 117.14 per euro from 117.10 after falling to 117.54, the lowest since May 13. The euro traded at $1.4160 from $1.4127.
Australia’s dollar bought $1.0337 from $1.0329 after earlier reaching a record $1.0347. The South Korean won climbed 0.6 percent to 1,097.55 per dollar.
Japan’s large manufacturers expect the yen to average 86.47 per dollar in the year to March 31, according to the Bank of Japan’s latest Tankan business-confidence survey on Dec. 15.
The euro was poised for an 8 percent gain versus the yen this quarter, the best performance since December 2000, on signs the 17-nation region’s economy is picking up.
Germany’s unemployment rate dropped to 7.2 percent in March, the lowest since Bloomberg started compiling the data in December 1991, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists before today’s report.
“The markets are expecting rate hikes from the European Central Bank every quarter,” said Yuji Saito, director of the foreign-exchange department at Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in Tokyo. “The euro is likely to be strong.”