US$ eases after six straight gains

London

THE US dollar eased against a basket of currencies after six straight days of gains on Wednesday, with falls for stock markets prompting some profit-taking and a drift of money into the traditional security of the yen.

The Japanese currency gained more than half a per cent and the euro around a quarter of a cent, halting a steady march by the greenback since it hit respectively 19- and 9-month lows at the start of this month. A series of threats by Japan to intervene on its currency have had something to do with that turnaround and Koichi Hamada, an economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was the latest to sound a currency market warning.