Currency Note Worldwide

Ruble and the Yen continue to struggle

By Smart Currency August 14th, 2013

Elsewhere the Japanese yen struggled yesterday, hitting one-week lows against the US dollar. This was down to a couple of factors. Firstly we saw a sharp rise in Japanese stock prices, which tends to go hand in hand with demand falling for the low-risk currency, pushing down the value. Secondly, we saw weaker-than-forecast quarterly growth figures released on Monday, suggesting the Bank of Japan might be forced to up its monetary easing over the coming months. Off the back of a troubled day on Monday following falling oil prices, the Russian ruble dropped further yesterday to the lowest levels since September 2009. The further decline was a result of the Russian central bank raising the currency’s trading band, suggesting that the authorities would not be averse to the ruble weakening further. The Canadian dollar also declined yesterday, for the second day running in response to retail figures out of the US climbing for the fourth straight month, fuelling the sentiment that Canada is falling behind its biggest trading partner. Last night we had quarterly retail figures out of New Zealand, as well as wage price data out of Australia. Get in touch for a live rate.