Investing.com - The dollar fell to three-week lows against the yen on Tuesday as concerns over the ongoing selloff in oil prices fuelled fears over the impact on global growth and inflation, boosting safe haven demand.
USD/JPY touched overnight lows of 117.74, the weakest since December 17 before pulling back to 118.39.
Crude oil prices fell to six-year lows on Monday, pressured lower by concerns over a global supply glut. The rout in oil prices has fuelled concerns of exacerbating already low levels of inflation in many major world economies, sending investors into safe haven assets.
The yen received an additional boost after Japan’s Nikkei ended lower on Tuesday as markets re-opened after a public holiday on Monday.
Elsewhere, Asian equities were boosted after Chinese trade data showed that exports rebounded in December, rising 9.7% but imports rose by a smaller-than-expected 2.4%, pointing to weak domestic demand.
The euro edged higher against the dollar, with EUR/USD easing up 0.14% to 1.1848, but still remained close to last Thursday’s nine-year lows of 1.1753.
The single currency remained under pressure amid speculation that the European Central Bank will embark on full blown quantitative easing as soon as its next meeting on January 22.
Over the weekend, the governor of the Italy’s central bank warned that the euro zone is at risk of further deflation and said the best way to combat that threat is through purchasing government bonds.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, eased to 92.17, off the 12-year peaks of 92.76 scaled last week.