Forex Pros – The yen surged against other major currencies on Tuesday, as a wave of risk aversion swept financial markets amid mixed economic reports from Europe and after Greece's prime minister issued a dire warning over his country's debt crisis. During European late morning trade, the Japanese currency was up against the U.S. dollar and the euro, with USD/JPY shedding 0.58% to hit 89.79 and EUR/JPY plunging 1.04% to hit 121.84. The yen also soared against the pound, with GBP/JPY tumbling 1.32% to hit 134.26 after Britain's Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its house price balance showed fewer increases in values during February than economists had forecast. Official data on Tuesday also showed that Britain's trade deficit on trade in goods unexpectedly widened on a monthly basis in January. Meanwhile, the yen shot up against the Swiss franc, with CHF/JPY plummeting 1.11% to hit 83.2 after official data showed that Switzerland's consumer price index rose 0.1% on a monthly basis in February, falling short of an expected rise of 0.2%. The Japanese currency also rose sharply against its Australian, Canadian and New Zealand counterparts: AUD/JPY shed 0.94% to hit 81.33, CAD/JPY fell 0.99% to hit 87.06 and NZD/JPY fell 1.19% to reach 62.52. The yen also climbed broadly due to dollar and euro selling by Japanese exporters, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, on Monday said that if the turmoil in his country “metastasizes” it “could create a new global financial crisis with implications as grave as the U.S.-originated crisis two years ago,” Bloomberg reported.

Source