Euro Advances Against Yen, Dollar Before German Factory Orders

By Yoshiaki Nohara and Ron Harui

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The euro gained against the yen before a German report this week that may show factory orders rose for a seventh month, backing the case for the European Central Bank to refrain from lowering borrowing costs.

The yen traded near a three-week high against the dollar on speculation the Federal Reserve will today repeat its pledge to keep interest rates low for an “extended period,” diminishing the appeal of U.S. assets. Australia’s dollar was set for two days of losses against the greenback after a government report showed the nation’s retail sales unexpectedly dropped, raising concern its central bank will temper the pace of rate increases.

“The euro-zone economy seems to be doing well, compared with economies in the U.S. and Japan,” said Masanobu Ishikawa, general manager of foreign exchange at Tokyo Forex & Ueda Harlow Ltd., Japan’s largest currency broker. “The bias is for the euro to be bought and the dollar and the yen to be sold.”

The euro rose to 133.34 yen at 7:04 a.m. in London from from 133.01 in New York yesterday. It climbed to $1.4739 from $1.4724. The U.S. currency fetched $1.6468 per pound from $1.6436, and was at 1.0254 Swiss franc from 1.0259 franc.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net; Ron Harui in Singapore at rharui@bloomberg.net