The yen held a four-day advance against the dollar after a slump in U.S. retail sales drove shares lower, spurring demand for haven assets. Japan´s currency mainained gains against most of its major conterparts amid concerns steep declines in global equities and commodities signal the global economy is slowing. It rose 0.1 percent to 117.27 in the early trading hours from yesterday, extending a four-day advance after touching 116.07. It gained 0.1 percent to 138.22 per euro, stretching its rally to a sixth day, he longest streak since September 2012. Japan´s currency has risen 3.6 percent in the past month according to the Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes, while the dollar gained 3 percent. The euro dropped 2.9 percent. The euro was little changed at $1.1790 after dropping to as low as $1.1727 yesterday, the least since December 2005. The dollar extended losses after the 0.9 percent drop in U.S. retail sales, the biggest since January 2014, followed a 0.4 percent gain in November that was smaller than previously estimated. Electronics and clothing stores were among the nine 0f 13 major categories that showed a drop in receits as American consumers decided to save instead of spend the windfall from lower gasoline prices. The Standard & Poor´s 500 Index fell 0.6 percent for a fourth day of losses. The DAX declined 1.3 percent, the first drop in three days. The chance of a Fed interest-rate increase by policy makers at their Januar meeting was at 67 percent, versus 82 percent a week earlier. Brent crude rose for the first time in five days, trading at $48.61 after reaching $45.19 a barrel in Londond yesterday, a price unsees since March 2009. Gold rose to the highest price snce October, adding as much as 0.6 percent to $1,244.60. The plunge in crude prices is spreading to the metals market, as copper tumbled.
Read the full report: FX Daily