The yen lost ground against the major currencies, falling 0.6 percent to 87.17 per dollar at 8:33 a.m. in New York, from 86.68 yesterday, while declining 0.6 percent to 131.48 against the euro, from 130.74. The drop comes one day after Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said publicly that the yen was too strong and that the government would take steps to devalue the currency.
“The yen is getting somewhat weaker on further signals that the Japanese authorities are getting concerned with the strength of their currency,” said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist at Wells Fargo & Co. in New York. “Employment data will probably be more closely watched than other data going forward. Dollar weakness is still the main theme.”
