By Yasuhiko Seki
Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The yen dropped against the euro and the U.S. dollar on speculation gains in Asian stocks may revive investors’ appetite for riskier assets, reducing demand for the Japanese currency as a haven.
The yen also weakened against the Australian and New Zealand dollars after Australia’s Senate approved a A$42 billion ($28 billion) stimulus package aimed at ensuring the economy doesn’t enter its first recession in 18 years.
“The recent moves of such indicators as VIX and the rise in stocks seem to suggest that risk aversion is gradually easing,” said Akio Yoshino, chief economist at Societe Generale Asset Management Ltd. “This should give investors less reason to buy the yen.”
The yen fell to 91.22 against the dollar at 12:10 p.m. in Tokyo from 90.94 late in New York yesterday. It slid to 117.89 per euro from 116.95 yesterday.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 2.2 percent and the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of regional shares rose 1.4 percent today. The VIX volatility index, a Chicago Board Options Exchange gauge reflecting expectations for stock-market price changes that is used as a measure of risk aversion, fell 7.4 per cent to 41.25 yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ron Harui in Singapore at rharui@bloomberg.net; Yasuhiko Seki in Tokyo at yseki5@bloomberg.net
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