The yen weakened further against its rival currencies during Asia trade Wednesday, with higher stocks and oil prices brightening market sentiment. The U.S. dollar USDJPY, +0.35% advanced to as high as ¥108.92 before changing hands at ¥108.89, compared with ¥108.56 late Tuesday in New York. Sentiment has improved as surging oil prices pushed up U.S. stocks overnight. Tracking the improved risk appetite, the Tokyo stocks rallied with the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average NIK, +2.84% rising 2.6% midday. Solid gains in China's trade data released late morning in Tokyo also provided a catalyst to stock markets elsewhere in Asia. The Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +1.69% jumped 2.1%, while the Hang Seng Index HSI, +2.33% shot up 2.4%. China's exports in dollar terms rose for the first time in nine months in March, while imports in the latest reporting month declined at a more moderate pace than analyst forecasts. "The yen is weaker almost across the board" against its rivals, given the region-wide higher stocks in Asia and a spike in oil prices, said Mizuho Securities chief FX strategist Kengo Suzuki. In addition, investors seemed to have opted to adjust their positions ahead of a gathering of the Group of 20 top finance officials later this week in Washington and a Sunday meeting of major oil producers in Doha, Qatar. "It's too early to say, as what we are seeing may turn out to be a mere adjustment" before the big events, said Suzuki. He said the yen still has potential to meet another round of heavy buying, if a stronger G-20 statement to avoid competitive currency devaluation reassures investors Japan's difficulty to step into the market to stem the yen's strength. The yen also cheapened against the euro. The common currency EURJPY, +0.06% rose to ¥123.68 from ¥123.65, while the U.K. pound GBPEUR, +0.0080% increased to ¥155.27 from ¥154.93. The Australian dollar AUDJPY, -0.05% linked to China growth, gained strength after the China data, briefly hitting a one-week high of ¥83.83, up from ¥83.41. With the Australian dollar widely considered a classic risk-on currency, and the yen a safe haven bought in risk-off times, the currency pair is prone to extremely dynamic ups and downs in keeping with the global economic sentiment. Against the dollar, the Aussie AUDUSD, -0.4034% briefly touched its two-week high of $0.7698 from $0.7684 late Tuesday. In other currency-pair trading, the euro EURUSD, -0.2898% was at $1.1360 from $1.1388. The WSJ Dollar Index BUXX, +0.30% , a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies, was up 0.10% at 85.96.
