Safe-haven yen gets a boost on stocks selloff

London

THE safe-haven yen strengthened on Monday as investors sold stocks and riskier assets including commodities, but the US dollar outperformed higher-yielding currencies on fresh talk of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in the near term.

The focus will be on Fed governor Lael Brainard's speech later in the day. The timing of a speech by the Fed's most-noted dove, just before the Fed's Open Market Committee blackout period, is too much of a coincidence for many in the markets with some expecting her to send a signal that further tightening is coming perhaps as early as this month.