“The yen weakened against the euro as Finance Minister Taro Aso said the Group of Seven acknowledged Japan isn’t targeting the exchange rate with its economic policy. European stocks were little changed, while South Korean shares fell after North Korea conducted a third nuclear test.
The yen slipped 0.2 percent per euro at 7:40 a.m. in New York. The pound sank 0.4 percent versus the dollar as U.K. inflation last month held at the highest since May. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index swung between gains and losses and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slipped less than 0.1 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index closed 0.3 percent lower, erasing a 0.4 percent advance. The yield on Spain’s 10-year bond fell 11 basis points to 5.31 percent. Corn slumped for an eighth day, the longest losing streak since March 2010.
Aso told reporters in Tokyo that Japan’s monetary policy is aimed at combating deflation and doesn’t have a yen target. The G-7 nations reaffirmed their commitment to market-determined exchange rates, according to a statement issued by finance chiefs and central bankers. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean- Claude Juncker said there was no optimal rate for the euro.
“There was nothing in the G-7 statement to make markets think Japan is about to come under concerted international pressure to do an about-face,” said Daragh Maher, a currency strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc in London. “The yen will weaken a little more.”
