By Matthew Brown and Yoshiaki Nohara
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The yen and the dollar strengthened against the euro as stock markets fell, boosting demand for the perceived safety of the Japanese and U.S. currencies.
The yen rose against all 16 of its major counterparts as the MSCI World Index of shares dropped 0.5 percent. The New Zealand dollar slid the most this month against the greenback as the nation’s main opposition party said it will no longer accept the central bank’s primary policy of targeting inflation.
“It’s a risk off day,” said Daragh Maher, deputy head of global foreign-exchange strategy in London at Calyon, the investment-banking unit of Credit Agricole SA. “Equity markets are down and in that kind of environment the dollar and the yen get bid.”
The yen appreciated to 132.34 per euro as of 8:38 a.m. in London, the strongest level since Nov. 3, from 133.64 yesterday in New York. The Japanese currency rose to 89.07 against the dollar, from 89.32. The dollar climbed to $1.4869 against the euro, from $1.4963.
The New Zealand dollar declined 1.8 percent to 73.30 U.S. cents, its biggest drop since Oct. 30 based on closing prices, and slid 2 percent to 65.29 yen.
The pound fell for a third day versus the dollar after the Daily Telegraph cited Experian Plc, the world’s largest credit- checking company, as saying that U.K. banks are in a worse state than those elsewhere.
Sterling dropped 0.5 percent to $1.6671. The pound rose 0.2 percent to 89.16 pence per euro.
To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Brown in London at mbrown42@bloomberg.net; Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net
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