Yen nears Nov 2014 highs, euro underperforms

London

THE yen rose on Tuesday to its highest against the US dollar since November 2014, as a sell-off in global stocks and worries about Europe's banks stoked demand for safe-haven currencies. The euro underperformed. Although it has enjoyed a good correlation with safe-haven assets and currencies since last August, it dropped to its lowest in nearly two weeks against the yen and the Swiss franc, another safe haven.

Europe's banking index fell one per cent and yields on southern European government bonds rose, pushing the euro lower against the US dollar to US$1.1185. The euro was also hurt in part by weak German industrial output, which fell unexpectedly in December.