Japanese yen plunges, Chinese yuan jumps on US-China trade hopes

The Japanese yen slipped and risky currencies flourished on Thursday as investors turned more optimistic that the US will find common ground with China on trade after agreeing to hold talks in October.

Chinese representatives will travel to Washington next month, China's Commerce Ministry said on Thursday.

“This news has injected a fair amount of optimism in the markets,” said Prashant Newnaha, senior rates strategist at TD Securities in Singapore.

“It does seem that the markets were positioning more bearishly, and now we've gotten this potential good news and the markets are running with it,” he said, adding global economic indicators had also recently been showing some green shoots.

The pound also gained ground, boosted by hopes that a no-deal Brexit will be avoided. British lawmakers approved legislation on Wednesday to extend the Brexit deadline for the third time and rejected British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's motion to hold a snap election.

“An amazing day when sterling is the best performer and the Japanese yen is the worst,” said Marshal Gittler, a strategist at ACLS Global. “Must indicate a real drop in risk sentiment, particularly with regards to Brexit!”

The yen plunged to a three-week low of 106.75 against the dollar, although it was last trading neutral at 106.41. The Chinese yuan rose to a two-week high of 7.1213 against the dollar in the offshore market and was last up by 0.1 per cent at 7.1382.

The Australian dollar rose to a one-month high of 0.68255 against the US dollar and was last up 0.2 per cent at 0.6811. The New Zealand dollar rose to a nine-day at 0.6379.

The dollar was flat against both the euro and five other major currencies. Euro/dollar was last at $1.1029 .

Sterling was last trading down 0.3 per cent at $1.2220. It had earlier reached an eight-day high of $1.2262. Against the euro, the pound was down 0.2 per cent at 90.245 pence.