TOKYO: The euro brushed a fresh two-year low against a broadly firmer yen on Tuesday, as the Japanese currency doggedly held on to gains made in the previous session.
Analysts and market participants said the trigger for investors to unwind their bearish yen positions overnight was comments from Koichi Hamada, an economic adviser to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Hamada told a TV programme on Monday that the yen’s current level of around 120 per dollar is very weak.
Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari said on Tuesday he will not comment on foreign exchange levels.
“Comments like this get attention when there’s nothing else to trade on – particularly yesterday, when there were no big economic releases,” said Bart Wakabayashi, head of forex at State Street in Tokyo. “But I don’t see any reason for the euro to be supported.”
The euro was down about 0.4 percent at 126.48 yen (0.20 pounds) , after breaking below the overnight low of 126.505 yen to 126.440, reaching levels not seen since June 2013.
