Investing.com - The euro fell to a three-month low against the yen on Monday, as fresh concerns over the handling of the euro zone’s financial crisis emerged following elections in Greece and France, boosting demand for safe haven assets.
EUR/JPY hit 103.24 during European afternoon trade, the pair’s lowest since February 16; the pair subsequently consolidated at 104.12, shedding 0.35%.
The pair was likely to find support at 103.24, the session low and resistance at 104.66, the high of February 17.
Sentiment found mild support after official data showed that German factory orders rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.2% in March, easily surpassing expectations for a 0.5% increase.
But investors remained cautious after weekend election results in Greece threw the future of the country’s international bailout agreement into doubt and fuelled fears over a possible Greek exit from the euro zone.
Neither of the country’s two pro-bailout parties secured enough votes to form a government, as voters favored smaller parties who campaigned against harsh austerity measures.
In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated by socialist candidate François Hollande, who has said he wants to renegotiate the euro zone fiscal pact in order to stimulate growth in the region.
Sentiment also came under pressure after a report by Sentix showed that its index of investor confidence for the euro zone tumbled to minus 24.5 in May, from a reading of minus 14.7 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to tick down to minus 15.3 in May.
The yen was fractionally lower against the U.S. dollar with USD/JPY inching up 0.09, to hit 79.93.
In the minutes of the Bank of Japan’s latest policy meeting, policymakers said earlier that Japan's economic activity was showing signs of improvement but that there was still a high degree of uncertainty regarding the global economy.
At its April 9 and 10 policy meeting, the BoJ left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, close to zero.
EUR/JPY hit 103.24 during European afternoon trade, the pair’s lowest since February 16; the pair subsequently consolidated at 104.12, shedding 0.35%.
The pair was likely to find support at 103.24, the session low and resistance at 104.66, the high of February 17.
Sentiment found mild support after official data showed that German factory orders rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.2% in March, easily surpassing expectations for a 0.5% increase.
But investors remained cautious after weekend election results in Greece threw the future of the country’s international bailout agreement into doubt and fuelled fears over a possible Greek exit from the euro zone.
Neither of the country’s two pro-bailout parties secured enough votes to form a government, as voters favored smaller parties who campaigned against harsh austerity measures.
In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated by socialist candidate François Hollande, who has said he wants to renegotiate the euro zone fiscal pact in order to stimulate growth in the region.
Sentiment also came under pressure after a report by Sentix showed that its index of investor confidence for the euro zone tumbled to minus 24.5 in May, from a reading of minus 14.7 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to tick down to minus 15.3 in May.
The yen was fractionally lower against the U.S. dollar with USD/JPY inching up 0.09, to hit 79.93.
In the minutes of the Bank of Japan’s latest policy meeting, policymakers said earlier that Japan's economic activity was showing signs of improvement but that there was still a high degree of uncertainty regarding the global economy.
At its April 9 and 10 policy meeting, the BoJ left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, close to zero.