Yen rallies on safe
Credit: Reuters/Shohei Miyano
1 of 2. A woman counts Japanese 10,000 yen notes in Tokyo, in this February 28, 2013 picture illustration.
A physician with Doctors Without Borders who had returned to New York City from West Africa has tested positive for Ebola, according to media reports.
S&P e-mini futures skidded 0.6 percent, while the greenback was down about 0.3 percent at 108.00 yen after dropping as low as 107.88.
'The volatile move was a good chance for some to buy the dollar on dips,' said Kaneo Ogino, director at Global-info Co in Tokyo, a foreign exchange research firm.
'I think, next week the market will be more event-driven, with the FOMC and the Bank of Japan, so the downside should be limited,' he said, adding that support at 107 was likely to hold for now.
The U.S. Federal Reserve will meet next Tuesday and Wednesday, and the consensus view is that the central bank will decide to wrap up its asset purchases under its third round of quantitative easing.
The yen had faced pressure on Thursday after a Wall Street rally, as upbeat earnings from the likes of Caterpillar and 3M helped drive U.S. stocks to a two-week high. That in turn lifted U.S. Treasury yields.
Higher yields usually have the effect of boosting the greenback against the yen and it duly climbed as high as 108.36 yen overnight, gaining more than 1 percent on Thursday.
The yen had also faced pressure after a Wall Street Journal report sparked talk of more easing from the Bank of Japan. The article, citing people familiar with the central bank's thinking, said the BOJ now saw 'a much bigger possibility of inflation slipping below 1 percent' due to falling oil prices.
The euro fetched 136.64 yen, down about 0.2 percent, having briefly popped above 137.00 overnight for the first time since Oct. 10.
The Australian dollar dipped about 0.6 percent to 94.24 yen after coming within a whisker of 95.00 yen overnight, reaching a high last seen on Oct. 9.
Against the U.S. dollar, the euro edged up about 0.1 percent to $1.2656 after dipping to a two-week low of $1.2614 on Thursday.
Euro bears were tethered by a closely watched survey showing Germany's private sector grew faster in October as manufacturing rebounded, suggesting Europe's largest economy may be gaining momentum in the fourth quarter.
(Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Alan Raybould)
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