Dollar, euro firm as Asian stocks rebound

TOKYO: The dollar and the euro gained ground Monday, as rising Asian shares helped bolster risk appetite after recovery hopes were supported by a survey that showed US consumer confidence increasing.

The dollar rose to 91.87 yen in Tokyo morning trade, up from 91.65 in New York on Friday.

The euro rose to 1.2173 dollars from 1.2112 and to 111.85 yen from 111.00.

Gains across Asian bourses encouraged short-term investors to buy riskier assets, analysts said, reducing demand for the safe-haven yen.

On Friday a private survey showed a stronger-than-expected rise in US consumer sentiment in June, fuelling optimism that retail sales would pick up after falling in May, when markets were roiled by eurozone debt worries.

In Tokyo, the headline Nikkei index gained 1.56 percent in morning trade, while Hong Kong”s Hang Seng Index opened 1.03 percent higher.

The rise of the dollar against the yen was likely to continue “on expectations for stocks to be firmer,” Mitsuru Sahara, senior dealer at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, told Dow Jones Newswires.

However, investors were looking to sell the US currency once it hits above the 92.00 to 93.00 yen range, he said.

The South Korean won was up sharply against the US dollar, helped by a 0.97 percent rise in Korean stocks. The dollar was at 1,229.5 won, down from 1,246.1 Friday.

Traders said the announcement Sunday of measures to ease the impact of rapid capital flows on the local economy, including new rules to limit local and foreign banks” foreign exchange forward positions, had little impact on the markets as it had been well flagged.