Yen Rises to 2-Week High Versus Dollar, Euro on CIT Bankruptcy

[Joanne98]

By Candice Zachariahs

Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The yen rose to the most in more than two weeks against the dollar and the euro after CIT Group Inc., a 101-year-old New York-based commercial lender, filed for bankruptcy, spurring concern stocks will extend last week’s drop.

CIT listed $71 billion in assets and $65 billion in debt, according to the bank’s filing. U.S. stocks fell the most since May last week, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropping 4 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.6 percent.

“The very thin liquidity conditions in early Asia is seeing risk selling off,” on the CIT news, said Sue Trinh, a senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Sydney. “This is shaping up to be a big week especially in light of the very sharp sell-off in risk late last week.”

The yen rose to 89.67 against the dollar as of 8:35 a.m. in Sydney, near the most since Oct. 15. It touched 131.77 against the euro, the strongest since Oct. 12. Japan’s currency bought 80.33 against the Australian dollar from 81.05 on Oct. 30. Japan’s currency advanced to 63.98 versus the New Zealand dollar from 64.73.

To contact the reporter on this story: Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at [e-mail]
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aBMeSA1cHeiA