By Alex Ho
Investing.com - Prices of the Japanese yen surged on Friday in Asia as traders rushed to safe-haven assets following an increase in new coronavirus cases outside of China.
The USD/JPY pair lost 0.6% to 108.92 by 12:05 AM ET (04:05 GMT).
U.S. stocks were in freefall this week, while Asian equities also plunged. Most major indices slumped about 3% today, bringing their weekly losses to around 10%. Global shares are now on course for the worst week since the 2008 financial crisis, down more than 10% this month’s peak after the World Health Organization said Thursday that the coronavirus outbreak has the potential to become a pandemic and is at a decisive stage.
The coronavirus, which began in China, showed signs of spreading as the number of cases in countries like Japan, South Korea, Italy, Iran and the U.S. surged. Diminishing hopes that the coronavirus outbreak could be contained in China prompted investors to panic, while pushing safe-haven assets like gold and the Japanese yen higher.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index slipped 0.1% to 98.377 as traders await the country’s latest consumer data and retail earnings that are due later in the day.
January personal spending is expected to have risen 0.3%, according to economists’ forecasts compiled by Investing.com. Personal income is expected to have risen 0.3% as well.
Core personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which exclude food and energy, are forecast to have risen 0.2% in January to an annual rate of 1.7%.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is highly expected to lower its benchmark lending rate next month.
The USD/CNY pair inched up 0.1% to 7.0114. The People's Bank of China set the Yuan reference rate at 7.0066 today versus Thursday's fix at 7.0215.
The AUD/USD pair dropped 0.7% to 0.6522, while the NZD/USD pair lost 1.1% to 0.6234.