The US dollar climbed against the Japanese yen on Monday as investors raised expectations for further fiscal stimulus in Japan after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition won the local elections.
On Sunday, Japan’s ruling coalition won a landslide victory in upper house elections. Analysts thought that this makes it likelier that Abe will be able to push through further monetary easing measures.
The greenback added 2.24 per cent against the yen on Monday in late trading, the biggest one-day gains since April, Xinhua reported.
Moreover, investors were still digesting the newly-released nonfarm payroll report. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 287,000 in June, beating market consensus of a 175,000-gain, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.9 per cent, the Labour Department reported on Friday.
Analysts said the June nonfarm report mollified concerns of an economic slowdown in the country, as May’s payroll rose only by 38,000 and notched the fewest monthly job gain in almost six years.
In late New York trading, the euro rose to $1.1058 from $1.1043 of the previous session, and the British pound increased to $1.2997 from $1.2953. The Australian dollar went down to $0.7534 from $0.7568.
The dollar bought 102.79 Japanese yen, higher than 100.54 yen of the previous session. The dollar dropped to 0.9825 Swiss francs from 0.9834 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.3120 Canadian dollars from 1.3047 Canadian dollars.
IANS