The Japanese yen rose on May 4, as a lackluster jobs report and uncertainty stemming from the uncertain outcome of European elections impacted the sentiment of traders participating in forex risk management.
The U.S. dollar declined to 79.87 Japanese yen late in trade from 80.29 yen on the previous day, according to The Associated Press. The yen closed 0.4 percent higher at 79.85 per dollar at 5 p.m. New York time, Bloomberg reports. Japan's currency closed up 0.9 percent versus the euro.
Market participants were impacted by upcoming elections in Greece and France, according to The Associated Press. Since France is Europe's second-largest economy, electing a new head of state could change the fiscal direction of the euro zone.
"The outlook for the U.S. economy is deteriorating, and the likelihood for quantitative easing is increasing," Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon Corp., told Bloomberg. "There’s also the risks associated with the elections in Europe over the weekend, so all the more reason to move to the sidelines in more of a risk-off trade."
Corporate risk managers can use foreign exchange technology to gather real-time data on safe currencies such as the yen.
