2014.10.2101:55:04UTC+00Japanese yen climbs as Asia stock drop urges safety bid

The Japanese yen ascended versus all except two of its 16 major counterparts as Asian stocks plunged and traders pulled back speculations on the timing of Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike.

The yen gained 0.4% to ¥106.56 per US dollar after sliding 1% in the last three days. The currency added 0.3% to ¥136.53 per euro.

“The weakness in dollar-yen is correlating very closely with the decline in the Nikkei. A lot of it gets back to the market still being lopsided, the speculative market having been long dollar-yen in an environment where the risks on U.S. data surprises are tilted to the downside” said Sean Callow, Currency Strategist at Westpac Banking Corp.