TOKYO- The yen strengthened, thanks to bigger appetites for safe-haven assets as Washington and Beijing put additional tariffs on each other’s exports, adding to the gloom hanging over the global economic outlook.
Gold, which tends be bought with the yen during times of economic uncertainty, also rose on Monday by the most in almost a week as investors were drawn to so-called risk-off trades.
The offshore yuan initially fell trading but pared its losses after a private survey on Chinese manufacturing in August beat market expectations.
Declines in Asian shares on Monday offered more evidence that traders were steering from risk, which is likely to be an important factor behind currency market swings in coming weeks.
“There are a lot of risk events this week from US and Chinese economic data, which should help us see who is hurting more from the trade war, but we don’t think a solution is imminent,” said Rodrigo Catril, senior foreign exchange strategist at National Australia Bank in Sydney.
The yen rose around 0.1 percent versus to dollar to 106.15 in Asian trading.
The Japanese currency rose around 0.2 percent to 71.43 versus the Australian dollar and advanced around 0.2 percent to 66.88 per New Zealand dollar.
Spot gold rose 0.29 percent to $1,524.05 per ounce.
In the onshore Chinese market, the yuan traded at 7.1611 per dollar, versus its previous close of 7.1580.
In the offshore market, the yuan initially fell versus the dollar but managed to trim its losses to trade at 7.1686 yuan per dollar, down around 0.1 percent. – Reuters
