Yen Soars, Aussie Stumbles Amid US Job Jitters

4 Sep 2024 , 10:13 AM

The safe-haven Japanese yen soared on Wednesday, while riskier currencies such as the Australian dollar and sterling fell as traders sought refuge following Wall Street’s worst sell-off in nearly a month and significant losses for Asian markets.

The cause was reportedly some lacklustre U.S. manufacturing data, which fuelled fears of a harsh landing for the world’s largest economy, as traders were already jittery ahead of critical monthly payrolls data on Friday.

The yen rose as much as 0.4% to 144.89 per dollar before closing up roughly 0.1% at 145.37, following a 1% rise overnight against a broadly higher dollar.

The dollar-yen pair typically tracks long-term US Treasury rates, which fell roughly 7 basis points (bps) overnight and continued to fall in Asian hours to 3.8329% as investors sought safety in bonds.

The dollar, on the other hand, remained steady versus the majority of its major counterparts, since it tends to attract safety bids even when the US economy is under scrutiny.

Sterling dipped to $1.3111 after falling 0.23% overnight. The euro gained 0.1% to $1.1054, following a 0.26% drop the previous day.

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