Yen bid, bitcoin battered as Ukraine fears leave traders nervous
Send a link to a friend
[February 18, 2022] By
Alun John
HONG KONG (Reuters) - The safe-haven yen
gained more ground on the dollar on Friday as U.S. President Joe Biden
said Moscow is preparing a pretext to justify a possible attack on
Ukraine, also supporting the Swiss franc and hurting bitcoin.
The dollar slipped to a new two-week low of 114.78 yen in early Asia
trade, and is down 0.5% so far this week.
"The support level of 114.63 looks within reach today if more negative
headlines on Ukraine emerge," said CBA analysts in a morning client
note, adding that markets were also focused on the Bank of Japan's
policy, as the central bank continues with its policy of yield curve
control.
Early morning exchanges of fire on Thursday between Kyiv's forces and
pro-Russian separatists - who have been at war for years and where a
ceasefire is periodically violated - have renewed Western fears of an
imminent Russian invasion.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Moscow is preparing a pretext to justify a
possible attack and the Kremlin expelled an American diplomat.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/18/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
These tensions also caused the dollar to lose ground on the Swiss franc,
with the greenback last at 0.9196 francs, just above Thursday's two week
intraday day low of 0.9186 francs.
At the other end of the risk spectrum, bitcoin was trading around
$40,500, around a two-week low, after a tumble late on Thursday left it
down 7.6% on the day.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/021822PIX/busine21.jpg)
U.S. dollar and Japan yen notes are seen in this photo illustration
June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/18/images/ads/current/graue_21CAMARO_100421.png)
"Crypto has shown us once again that it is a high beta risk asset, and it has a
dark sinister look that could morph into something ugly," said Chris Weston,
head of research at Melbourne based brokerage Pepperstone in a morning email.
The euro continued its week of choppy trading based on Ukraine headlines and was
at $1.1360, while the pound was at 1.3609 supported by markets betting on more
monetary tightening from the Bank of England.
Central bank policy was also a factor in the yen, after the BOJ this week
offered to buy an unlimited amount of benchmark 10 year government bonds to
underscore its resolve to contain domestic borrowing costs.
Markets have not aggressively tested the BOJ's 0.25% yield target on those
bonds, but yields on other tenors have been rising. [JP/T]
Meanwhile, in the United States, policy makers have continued to publicly debate
how aggressively the Federal Reserve should raise interest rates, and whether it
should begin with a 25 or 50 basis point hike at its March meeting.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said late on Thursday the Fed would need
to raise interest rates at a faster pace and shrink its balance sheet more
quickly than it did after the 'great recession'.
(Reporting by Alun John; editing by Richard Pullin)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |