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Dollar, euro fall more than 1 pct vs yen

Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:22am EST

NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar and euro extended losses against the yen on Thursday, falling more than 1 percent each as fear of a deepening global recession pushed risk-averse investors into the safe-haven Japanese currency.

Currencies

The dollar fell 1.3 percent to 94.64 yen JPY=, a session trough and its lowest level in a week. The euro fell 1 percent to 118.70 yen EURJPY=, also a one-week low.

Widespread risk aversion benefits the yen as investors pull money out of positions in higher-yielding assets such as stocks and commodities that were financed with a cheaply-borrowed yen.

U.S. data on Thursday showing a spike last week in the number of Americans filing for first-time jobless benefits was the latest bit of dismal economic news to unnerve investors.

"Anxiety about the financial markets is shifting to anxiety about fundamentals and the real economy, and that's keeping the overall levels of risk aversion very high," said Vassili Serebriakov, currency strategist at Wells Fargo in New York. (Reporting by Steven C. Johnson; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

Currencies


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