The U.S dollar, on Wednesday, December 21, dropped slightly against the yen and the euro, with investors taking profits on recent gains in the U.S. currency, MarketWatch
The U.S. currency USDJPY, -0.19% was changing hands at ¥117.67, compared with ¥117.88 late Tuesday in New York.
The WSJ Dollar Index BUXX, -0.08% , a measure of the U.S. dollar against a basket of major currencies, was down 0.11% at 93.26.
With short covering kicking in, the euro EURUSD, +0.1348% gained to $1.0408 from $1.0388 late Tuesday after touching a fresh multi-year low of $1.0352, its lowest level since January 2003.
Investors moved to lock in profits after scooping up the U.S. currency against the yen Tuesday after comments from the Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda.
“The dollar broke above the ¥118-threshold again today. But people didn’t join the buying to seek further upside as seen yesterday, prompting profit taking among investors ahead of the Christmas holiday,” said Yuzo Sakai, manager of FX business promotion at Tokyo Forex and Ueda Harlow.
The dollar’s upside toward ¥118.66, its 10-month high set on Dec. 15, appears close, but is actually still some distance off, said Takuya Kanda, senior researcher at Gaitame.Com Research Institute in a note.
