By Alex Ho
Investing.com - The Japanese yen fell against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday in Asia even as coronavirus cases continued to surge globally.
Heightened risk aversion sent Asian stocks lower today, but failed to offer support to the safe-haven yen. The USD/JPY pair rose 0.1% to 110.82 by 1:10 AM ET (05:10 GMT), up 0.1%.
Authorities in Italy imposed a quarantine in the north of the country to try to halt what is the largest outbreak of the virus in Europe, with the number of cases jumping to above 200 from just three before Friday.
Several Middle East countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq, reported their first infections today.
Meanwhile, South Korea reported another 60 cases, bringing its total number of infections to 893. The country said its consumer confidence slumped 7.3 points in February, which was the most in five years.
The AUD/USD pair gained 0.2% to 0.6614. The NZD/USD pair was unchanged at 0.6335.
The USD/CNY pair lost 0.2% to 7.0119. China said today that the death toll in the country rose to 2,663, an increase of 71. Confirmed case increased to 77,658, according to government data.
The World Health Organization said at a press briefing in Geneva that the development is “deeply concerning,” but the outbreak is not yet a pandemic.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index slipped 0.1% to 99.207. Speeches from multiple Federal Reserve officials are in focus this week.
Overnight, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said that the central bank’s policy stance is appropriate given the outlook of growth labor market conditions, and inflation rates which are not far from the Fed’s 2% goal.
On the data front, the Conference Board will issue its measure of February consumer sentiment at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT).
The consumer confidence index is expected to tick up to 132 from 131.6 in January, according to economists forecasts compiled by Investing.com.