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FOREX-Yen rises broadly, kiwi down on rating outlook cut

Published 07/16/2009, 02:06 AM
Updated 07/16/2009, 02:08 AM

* Cross/yen pairs down broadly on profit-taking

* Kiwi falls after Fitch Ratings cuts NZ outlook to negative

* China Q2 GDP up 7.9 pct, matches figure in newspaper report

* Some caution after US lender CIT's talks with govt end

* But CIT's woes seen unlikely to spark strong risk aversion

By Masayuki Kitano

TOKYO, July 16 (Reuters) - The yen rose broadly on Thursday as traders booked profits in other currencies after their rally this week, with the New Zealand dollar sliding after Fitch cut the country's sovereign rating outlook.

The currency market took in its stride data showing that China's economy grew 7.9 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier. That was slightly above market expectations but matched a figure reported by a Chinese newspaper.

The yen rose broadly, with the euro slipping 0.6 percent to 132.16 yen and the Australian dollar falling 1 percent to 74.97 yen.

But given the rebound in U.S. and global shares this week on the back of better-than-expected results from U.S. firms such as Intel Corp and Goldman Sachs, traders said risk-taking may pick up and eventually drag the yen lower on crosses.

"Optimism is starting to appear again following U.S. corporate earnings including a strong result from Intel," said a trader at a European bank.

"If the market gets past more U.S. earnings announcements that are on the way, and they are not too bad, yen crosses and equities could find a solid footing," the trader said.

The low-yielding yen and the safe-haven dollar both tend to suffer when optimism about the outlook for the global economy improves, bolstering hopes that investors will start investing in higher-yielding currencies and assets. The dollar dipped 0.4 percent to 93.87 yen, but was well off a 5-month low of 91.73 yen hit on trading platform EBS earlier this week.

The dollar was mostly higher against currencies other than the yen. The euro dipped 0.2 percent to $1.4078, while sterling eased 0.2 percent to $1.6384.

Akira Hoshino, chief manager in the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ's foreign exchange trading department, said the possibility of risk aversion flaring up again could not be ruled out.

"There are structural bombs that could explode and damage the economy at some point," Hoshino said, adding that the dollar and the yen could rise if such risks materialise.

The kiwi dollar fell sharply after ratings agency Fitch downgraded New Zealand's sovereign outlook to negative, citing a lofty current account deficit and higher foreign debt levels.

The New Zealand dollar slid 1.4 percent to $0.6398 and dropped 1.8 percent to 60.06 yen.

There was some focus on the financial woes of CIT Group Inc, a major lender to small- and mid-sized U.S. businesses. CIT, which ended March with $75.7 billion of assets, said talks with the government to bail out the company had ended.

CNBC said CIT was likely to file for bankruptcy on Friday, citing a source close to the company.

"It is possible that financial markets could move a bit towards avoiding risk-taking," said Tohru Sasaki, chief foreign exchange strategist at JPMorgan Chase Bank in Tokyo.

But market players said CIT's troubles were unlikely to lead to jitters about the health of the broader financial sector, and that a sharp shift toward risk aversion was unlikely. (Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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