The dollar climbed for the first time in five days against the yen as stock markets rallied following Monday’s $2.7 trillion global equity wipeout and China cut interest rates.
The U.S. currency’s biggest gains came against the Swiss franc and euro, as well as the yen — all currencies that investors consider to be havens in times of market turmoil. The yen weakened after a Japan Ministry of Finance official said its rally to a seven-month high as China’s economy slows had been “abrupt.”
“The better tone in markets, and a rebound from yesterday’s collapse, is helping lift dollar-yen,” said Keng Goh, a foreign-exchange strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in London. If equity markets stay calm, expectations for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates will build again, further supporting the U.S. currency, he said.
The dollar jumped 1.5 percent to 120.13 yen as of 7:10 a.m. in New York, after slumping to 116.18 on Monday, the weakest since Jan. 16. It climbed 1 percent to $1.1498 per euro. Europe’s single currency gained 5.4 percent in the previous four days, the most since March 2009.
China Acts
Futures signaled the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of U.S. equities will rebound after entering a correction, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 4.3 percent. The wave of selling continued in Chinese shares, capping the biggest four-day drop in almost 19 years.
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