JPY started on a strong note this morning following developments overnight, mainly the Malaysia Airlines crash in Ukraine and the start of Israeli ground operations in Gaza, with dollar-yen opening at Y101.17 and euro-yen at Y136.85. Dollar-yen initially traded with a heavy tone as euro-yen sank on risk-averse trades, the cross also deflating early to Y136.77. Dollar-yen slumped to a Y101.09 low in early dealings while the crossmarked an initial low of Y136.71, its worst level since Feb. 5. The move uncovered some dollar-yen demand from around Y101.05/00, possibly linked to a Y101.00 barrier, while some speculated the bids came from semi-official Japanese names, which carried dollar-yen back up to Y101.30. Dollar-yen continued to recover after that and extended the high to Y101.42 in the late morning and euro-yen took back the Y137.00 mark as Japanese stocks also pared their early losses. Dollar-yen last trades at Y101.33 while euro-yen was last at Y137.06. For euro-yen, a break below Y136.55 likely to encourage further losses, although there has been reported demand at Y136.50 and stops below, with a break there to see the cross take on the 2014 low of Y136.22 traded on Feb. 4.
