The yen flattened out against major rivals in Asia on Wednesday, after failing to maintain early afternoon gains prompted by a selloff in Tokyo stocks, MarketWatch reported. After staying above the ¥101-threshold from early in Tokyo trading hours, the greenback quickly lost ground and hit a low of ¥100.75, as investors moved into the safety of the Japanese currency amid worsening risk sentiment. The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average stretched its losses in the afternoon trade. It was down 1.7% midday. But the US dollar has since bounced to ¥100.92, compared with ¥100.90 late Tuesday in New York. The euro was changing hands at ¥113.16, compared with ¥113.26. The dollar weakened substantially against the yen in recent sessions, as investors opted to buy the Japanese currency on disappointment about surprisingly modest monetary easing by the Bank of Japan Friday. In addition, the US currency is under pressure amid doubts on the strength of the US economy, which may prevent the Federal Reserve from raising short-term rates later this year.
