The yen was sent lower yesterday as risk sentiment evaporated following a pledge by Japan to purchase a piece of the European Financial Stability Facility and gains in equities had traders bidding the yen lower. Demand for the yen sank throughout the day as traders moved out of typical safe haven currencies such as the JPY and the dollar and bought higher yielding assets such as the euro, crude oil and equities.
At the end of the trading day, the yen was down versus the USD with the USD/JPY trading at 83.21, up from an opening day price of 83.01. The EUR/JPY was bid higher at 108.13 from 107.45.
Tomorrow will bring key data from Japan with the release of last month's core machinery numbers. Expectations are for a strong report with orders rising 2.2% compared with November's decline of 1.4%.
