* Yen strengthens beyond 106 as investors look for safety
* Swiss franc rises on safe-haven bids as well
* Italian political uncertainty weighs on risk appetite
* Soft global data boosts risk aversion
* Dollar headed for biggest weekly decline since June
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
(New throughout, updates prices, market activity, comments; new byline, changes dateline, previous
LONDON)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) - The yen and Swiss franc gained on Friday, as investors sought the
safe-haven currencies due to nagging U.S.-China trade war jitters, renewed political uncertainty in Italy
and weak economic data around the world.
Deep liquidity and current account surpluses in Japan and Switzerland attract safe-haven flows to
those currencies during times of geopolitical and economic stress.
"What wouldn't make safe havens look attractive this week," said John Doyle, vice president for
dealing and trading at Tempus, Inc. in Washington.
"The equity board is awash in red. The trade tensions are a big thing and if you look around the
world, all the data were negative, or at least concerning. So of course, we're going to see an uptick in
the Swissie (franc) and the yen," he added.
Fears of Washington's trade war with Beijing escalated after Bloomberg reported the United States has
again held off on granting licenses to China's telecom equipment maker Huawei. U.S. data showed underlying producer prices fell 0.1% in July, suggesting inflation remained muted.
Canada's economy lost 24,200 jobs last month. In Britain, the economy shrank for
the first time since 2012 in the second quarter and sterling slid to a 31-month low against the dollar.
There was a sell-off in Italiana bonds as Italy added to the global tension. The ruling League party
filed a no-confidence motion against the prime minister, a move the party's populist chief Matteo Salvani
hopes will trigger early elections and install him as the new leader. The dollar weakened against a basket of currencies, pressured as U.S. President Donald Trump repeated
his call for a weaker currency to help American manufacturers.
Trump told reporters at the White House he believes the Federal Reserve needs to lower interest rates
by a full percentage point. In late morning trading, the dollar fell 0.4% against a surging yen to 105.61 yen JPY= , near the
seven-month low of 105.5 hit earlier this week. The yen was on course for its second weekly gain versus
the U.S. dollar and its third weekly gain versus the Australian and New Zealand dollars.
The Swiss franc rose versus the dollar and euro. The dollar was last down 0.2% at 0.9732 franc CHF= ,
while the euro slipped 0.1% at 1.0893 francs EURCHF= .
The euro rose against the dollar to $1.1198 EUR= ., showing little reaction after Salvini called for
early elections.
The dollar index .DXY dipped 0.1% slipped to 97.545 .DXY and remained on course for its biggest
weekly decline since June 21.
Sterling fell 0.5% to $1.2075 GBP= against the dollar and 0.7% versus the euro, which rose to 92.74
pence EURGBP= , after the UK's weak data.
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Currency bid prices at 10:45 AM (1445 GMT)
Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid
Previous Change
Session
Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.1198 $1.1178 +0.18% -2.36% +1.1208 +1.1181
Dollar/Yen JPY= 105.5800 106.0600 -0.45% -4.24% +106.1100 +105.5800
Euro/Yen EURJPY= 118.26 118.58 -0.27% -6.31% +118.7200 +118.2500
Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9730 0.9746 -0.16% -0.86% +0.9754 +0.9719
Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.2078 1.2131 -0.44% -5.31% +1.2153 +1.2057
Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.3237 1.3224 +0.10% -2.93% +1.3274 +1.3206
Australian/Doll AUD= 0.6806 0.6800 +0.09% -3.45% +0.6818 +0.6780
ar
Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0898 1.0897 +0.01% -3.16% +1.0913 +1.0889
Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.9269 0.9213 +0.61% +3.17% +0.9289 +0.9208
NZ NZD= 0.6488 0.6478 +0.15% -3.41% +0.6498 +0.6463
Dollar/Dollar
Dollar/Norway NOK= 8.8759 8.9261 -0.56% +2.75% +8.9324 +8.8504
Euro/Norway EURNOK= 9.9412 9.9797 -0.39% +0.36% +9.9955 +9.9101
Dollar/Sweden SEK= 9.5426 9.5982 -0.40% +6.46% +9.6066 +9.5257
Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.6891 10.7321 -0.40% +4.14% +10.7476 +10.6648
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U.S. dollar vs Japanese yen https://tmsnrt.rs/2YBD1lT
Major FX - MTD performance https://tmsnrt.rs/2YBUxqt
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