The yen rose against other major currencies in Asian deals on Wednesday as regional stocks fell amid tensions in Ukraine.
Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 2.30 percent or 332.39 points to 14,125.12.
In most of eastern and southern Ukraine, violence flared at dusk in the eastern port of Mariupol, where a spokesman for pro-Moscow militants told Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency that one person was killed and three wounded in an attack on a checkpoint yesterday.
As Ukraine slides further towards a war, both sides have been burying their dead , with supporters of Russia and of a united Ukraine accusing each other of tearing the country apart.
The minutes of the Bank of Japan’s April Monetary Policy Meeting released earlier today showed that the policy board decided to conduct money market operations so that the monetary base will increase at an annual pace of about 60-70 trillion yen.
An index monitoring the service sector in Japan moved into contraction in April, the latest PMI from Markit Economics revealed today – showing a score of 46.4.
That’s down from 52.2 in March. It fell below the ’50’ level that separates expansion and contraction.
The yen recovered to 141.43 against the euro and 172.35 against the pound, from its early lows of 141.76 and 172.75, respectively and held steady thereafter in the Asian session. The yen closed yesterday’s deals at 141.62 against the euro and 172.61 against the pound.
The yen recovered to 101.53 against the greenback and 116.17 against the franc, from its early lows of 101.77 and 116.41, respectively and held steady thereafter in the Asian session.The yen closed yesterday’s deals at 101.68 against the U.S dollar and 116.30 against the franc.
From early lows of 93.45 against the Canadian dollar and 95.15 against the Australian dollar, the yen recovered to 93.20 aand 94.84, respectively and held steady thereafter in the Asian session. The yen closed yesterday’s deals at 93.30 versus the loonie and 95.06 versus the aussie.
The yen rose to 88.35 against NZ dollar, up from its yesterday’s closing value of 88.36, and held steady thereafter.
Looking ahead, Swiss unemployment data for April is due in the late Asian session.
German Factory orders for March is set to be released at 2:00 am ET.
Canadian Building permits data for March and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s congressional testimony are due in the New york session.