Yen, dollar make gains on lack of G20 specifics
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The yen and U.S. dollar pushed higher early on Monday after a meeting of the Group of 20 major economies ended with lots of pledges of action but few actual proposals to combat a looming global recession.
Investors instead reacted to a late slide on Wall Street .SPX and Friday's U.S. economic data showing a record fall in retail sales in October by turning more risk-averse.
The resulting safe-haven flows lifted the yen across the board and slugged commodity-linked currencies like the Australian and New Zealand dollars.
The euro slid to 120.23 yen, from 124.12 late in New York on Friday, while the U.S. dollar dropped to 95.90 yen, from 97.49. Trading was very thin, exaggerating the move.
For its part, the dollar benefited from flows to U.S. Treasuries and gained to $1.2537 per euro, from 1.2725.
"The yen and U.S. dollar are again finding support from weaker risk appetite due to the lack of concrete results from the weekend meeting," noted analysts at ANZ.
"The summit also noted the need for broader policy responses, but mainly left it to individual economies to take the appropriate monetary and fiscal policy measures."
Investors had been hoping for an overall plan that would stimulate the global economy in the short-term.
(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by James Thornhill)
