The yen dipped against major currencies on Tuesday, extending losses made the previous day, as a rally in Tokyo shares supported risk appetite, in turn leading investors to shift funds to riskier currencies. The Australian dollar rose towards recent seven-month peaks against the yen and dollar, underpinned after Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said Australian interest rates were "pretty low".
"The yen remains vulnerable as firmness in stocks bolsters risk appetite, with people encouraged to buy higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar against the yen," said Tsutomu Soma, a senior manager in the foreign securities department at Okasan Securities.
The dollar edged up 0.1 percent from late US trade to 96.37 yen. The greenback had gained more than 1 percent against the Japanese currency in US trade on Monday as stocks posted hefty gains. Tokyo's Nikkei share average rose 3 percent at one point after Wall Street climbed on hopes the economic slump is easing.
If US shares maintain their rally later on Tuesday, it could prompt investors to sell currencies that are perceived to be less risky, he said. The US currency hit a two-month low of 94.55 yen on Monday on trading platform EBS but rebounded on remarks from Japan's vice finance minister, Kazuyuki Sugimoto, that he was watching moves in the foreign exchange market carefully.
His comments rekindled intervention fears among market players, pushing the yen down across the board, although few traders expected any imminent action beyond verbal intervention. The yen had rallied last week as optimism over the global economic outlook faded on weak US and European data, but traders said Monday's jump in the dollar and cross/yen could be explained by dollar and cross/yen short-covering or closing of broad yen-buying positions.
The euro was little changed from late US trade at $1.3563. It gained about 0.5 percent against the US currency on Monday on higher share prices that supported expectations that the worst has passed in the global recession. The European single currency inched up 0.3 percent to 130.82 after a jump of 1.7 percent the previous day.
The Australian dollar rose 0.2 percent to $0.7665 after climbing more than 2 percent on Monday. The comments from Stevens affirmed expectations that the RBA is near the end of its easing cycle, and that rates will be held steady for now. The central bank has cut rates by 425 basis points since September to a record low of 3 percent.
Minutes of the RBA's May 5 policy meeting showed on Tuesday that the central bank would monitor tentative signs of an improvement both in the global economy and at home before deciding on the next move in interest rates. The Australian dollar climbed 0.5 percent to 73.89 yen. Investors will look to US housing starts data for evidence to support optimism about the prospects for an economic recovery.