By Alex Ho
Investing.com - The yen rose against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday in Asia after data showed Japan’s exports in February slid.
The USD/JPY pair traded 0.5% lower to 107.15 by 12:30 AM ET (04:30 GMT).
Data released on Wednesday showed Japan's exports slipped 1.0% from a year earlier. It was the 15th straight month of decline and the longest run since a 23-month stretch to July 1987. However, the drop was less than the 4.3% predicted by analysts.
Imports fell 14.0% during the period, the data showed.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index lost 0.3% to 99.540. Risk appetite resumed amid a rally on Wall Street after reports said the Trump administration is considering a plan that could amount to as much as $1.2 trillion in spending.
The package could include direct payment of $1,000 or more to Americans.
“It is a big number,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters later on Capitol Hill. “This is a very big situation in this economy, we put a proposal on the table that would inject $1 trillion into the economy.”
“Americans need cash now, and the president wants to give cash now. And I mean now, in the next two weeks,” he said on Tuesday at a White House briefing alongside President Donald Trump.
The news came after the U.S. Federal Reserve rolled out financial-crisis-era measures again this week. It detailed plans to create a lending facility to support short-term commercial debt markets to avert a liquidity crisis from the impact of the coronavirus spread.
"People are very, very nervous," said Gunter Seeger, senior vice president in investment-grade fixed income at New York asset manager PineBridge Investments. "Everyone's nervous about the virus, about oil prices, about their job, about everything."
"It all stems from a shortage of US dollars," he said in a Reuters report.
The AUD/USD pair rose 0.1% to 0.6005, while the NZD/USD pair gained 0.4% to 0.5954.
The GBP/USD pair and the EUR/USD pair advanced 0.3% and 0.5% respectively.