Investing.com - The yen rose to the day’s highs against the dollar and the euro on Tuesday as a series of explosions in Brussels spurred increased demand for safe haven assets.
USD/JPY fell to lows of 111.39 and was last at 111.62, off 0.67% for the day.
The yen rose following reports of two explosions at the departure terminal of Brussels airport, casing several fatalities.
Another explosion occurred at a metro station, close to European Union institutions shortly afterwards. The metro system and airport have both been closed.
EUR/JPY fell to lows of 124.67, the weakest since March 10 and was last at 124.93.
The euro was also lower against the traditional safe haven Swiss franc, with EUR/CHF slipping 0.16% to 1.0886.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.23% at 95.62.
The dollar remained supported against the pound and the euro after comments by a Federal Reserve official boosted expectations for interest rate hikes in the coming months.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said Monday the economy had enough momentum to justify a rate hike possibly as soon as the Fed’s April meeting.
EUR/USD was down 0.37% at 1.1199, while GBP/USD fell 0.72% to 1.4267.
Sterling remained on the back foot ahead of U.K. inflation data later in the day.
The euro remained weaker despite data showing that private sector activity in the euro zone rose to a three-month high in March.
The flash euro zone composite purchasing managers’ index, which measures the combined output of both the manufacturing and service sectors rose from 53.0 in February to 53.7 in March.
Economists had expected an unchanged reading.
Another report showed that German business confidence rebounded from a 14-month low this month, with the Ifo business climate index rising to 106.7 from 105.7 in February.