Australian dollar gained against other currencies - about 1% against U.S. dollar and more than 1.1% against Japanese yen, yesterday after U.S. President George W. Bush stated that government will act to prevent the further damage from the mortgage financing crisis and to help those already hurt by the crisis consequences.
While the Japanese yen is surely a benefiting currency when it comes to the carry trade panic, some currencies feel extremely bearish at the times of global financial instability and other factors that bring down risk appetites. New Zealand dollar is one such currency.
Yen continued its fall today while the high-yielding currencies like Australian dollar, Great Britain pound and other currencies were sold for Japanese yen to secure the risks connected with carry trading.
U.S. dollar is likely to replace Japanese yen on the carry trade arena as the short currency. According to the currency pairs yield analysis, Great Britain pound, Brazilian real and Hungarian forint combined made over 17% against dollar this year, while buying those currencies against yen yielded only 9%.
Another carry trade crisis victim - South African rand saw its bad times during the past week. ZAR closed on its lowest rate against Japanese yen (which can be easily called the “favorite” of the week) since the mid September - 15.8549 yens per rand.
Japanese yen restarted its falling against other world currencies today (even against the dropping dollar) as the risk hungry investors begin to reenter carry trades. While the Nikkei 225 index gained a little more than 1 percent - first rising day after four consecutive losing days, Yen lost more than 1 percent of its value to the high-yielding currencies.