Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose against the yen on Friday, as demand for the safe-haven yen weakened as Chinese stock markets recovered from their recent sharp downward trend.
USD/JPY hit 122.44 during European afternoon trade, the pair's highest since July 8; the pair subsequently consolidated at 122.28, advancing 0.77%.
The pair was likely to find support at 120.44, Thursday's low and resistance at 122.88, the high of July 7.
The Shanghai Composite rallied over 4% on Friday after authorities increased scrutiny of short selling and eased rules for insurers to invest in blue-chips stocks in wake of China’s recent stock plunge.
Equity markets in China have lost more than 30% over the past three weeks, roiling global financial markets.
Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor developments in Greece. The Greek government offered to make painful spending cuts and hike taxes late Thursday, in a last-ditch request to win one more bailout from Europe before the country descends into bankruptcy.
Athens was seeking at least €50 billion over the next three years. In exchange, the government presented a number of austerity measures that were said to total between €12 billion and €13 billion - significantly more than Greece’s previous commitments.
The move brought Greece one step closer to a deal with its European creditors, who plan to make a final decision Sunday about whether to grant the country additional emergency loans.
In the meantime, the Greek government extended bank closures and the €60 daily limit on cash machine withdrawals until Monday.
The yen was sharply lower against the euro, with EUR/JPY surging 2.18% to 136.84.