Yen Weakens, Investors Still Worried About Tensions In Ukraine

Illustration/Photo: Antara

NEW YORK - The safe-haven Japanese yen fell slightly against the US dollar in late trading Saturday February 19, retreating after recent gains, but firming up for the week as a series of developments in the Ukraine-Russia crisis kept investors on edge. In afternoon New York trade, the dollar was up 0.1 percent at 115.025 yen. For the week, the dollar was down 0.4 percent against the Japanese currency in its biggest weekly percentage drop in about a month. Against the Swiss franc - another safe haven - the dollar was up 0.1 percent at 0.9212 francs. Concerns about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine have also boosted demand for safe-haven bonds, with government bond yields falling Friday. 2/2022). On Friday (2/18/2022), Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine said they planned to evacuate residents of their breakaway territory to Russia, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said events were taking place in the border area. over the past two days it is part of the Russian scenario to create false provocations. Thursday (17/2/2022) afternoon news that Blinken had accepted an invitation to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov next weekend provided some relief for investors' nervousness.

"Everyone is glued to what's going on with the Ukraine situation. There's tremendous nervousness. Everyone is hoping for some kind of de-escalation but that doesn't seem to be the direction," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst, at Oanda in New York. a safe haven, and it's been a great week for the Japanese yen. Today the yen is a bit weaker but the overall concern right now is that you're into a long weekend, and you still have a lot of rhetoric coming out of Russia," he said. was down 1.26 percent versus the greenback at 77.40 per dollar. The euro was down 0.3 percent against the dollar at $1.1329, while the dollar index which measures the greenback against six other major currencies was up 0.3 percent. , bitcoin was last down 1.3 percent to $40,025.