Yen eases but up for week as investors stay worried over Ukraine tensions

New York

THE safe-haven Japanese yen fell slightly against the dollar on Friday (Feb 18), pulling back after recent gains, but was up for the week as a series of developments in the Ukraine-Russia crisis put investors on edge.

In Friday afternoon New York trading, the dollar was up 0.1 per cent at 115.025 yen. For the week, the dollar was down 0.4 per cent in its biggest weekly percentage decline in about a month.

Against the Swiss franc - another safe haven - the dollar was up 0.1 per cent at 0.9212 francs.

Concerns about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine also have boosted demand for safe-haven bonds, with Treasury yields dropping on Friday.

On Friday, Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine said that they planned to evacuate their breakaway region's residents to Russia, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the events transpiring in the border area over the past 2 days are part of a Russian scenario to create false provocations.

"Everyone is fixated over what's happened with the Ukraine situation. There's a tremendous amount of nervousness. Everyone is hoping for some type of de-escalation but it just doesn't seem like that is the direction things are going," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst, at Oanda in New York.

"The trade has been about safe havens, and it's been a great week for the Japanese yen. On Friday the yen is slightly softer but the overall concern right now is you're entering the weekend, and you still have a lot of rhetoric coming out of Russia," he said.

The Russian rouble weakened 1.26 per cent versus the greenback at 77.40 per dollar.

The euro was down 0.3 per cent against the dollar at US$1.1329, while the US dollar index was up 0.3 per cent.

Bitcoin last fell 1.3 per cent to US$40,025. REUTERS