Yen drops on calmer global financial nerves

London

THE yen's advance halted on Monday as Japan's leader criticised excessively volatile currency markets and as gains for China's yuan on its first full day's trade in a week helped settle global financial nerves.

A stock market sell-off since the start of February has driven a wave of capital to seek the traditional safety of Japan, driving the yen 7 per cent higher and prompting speculation that Tokyo would intervene against the currency.