The Japanese yen showed weakness against major currencies during new York mid-day trading on Wednesday after the U.S. preliminary report on second quarter non-farm productivity and unit labor costs.
According to a report released by the Labor Department today, productivity increased by 1.6 percent in the second quarter following a revised 0.5 percent drop in the first quarter.
Economists had been expecting productivity to increase by about 1.3 percent compared to the 0.9 percent decrease originally reported for the previous quarter.
At the same time, the Labor Department said that unit labor costs rose by 1.7 percent in the second quarter compared to economist estimates for a 0.9 percent increase.
At present, the yen is trading near 79.47 versus the US dollar from early morning session's high of 78.25.
The Japanese currency edged down against its European counterparts in today's mid-day session as the Fitch Ratings affirmed Germany's triple-A credit rating with stable outlook, citing the longstanding credit strengths and robust economic performance of the country over the past two years.
The yen is currently worth 97.04 against the euro, 80.80 versus the Swiss franc and 122.90 against the British pound from recent multi-day highs of 96.60, 80.43 and 121.94, respectively.
Against the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars, the yen also slipped in North American mid-morning session. As of now, the yen is trading at 78.93 against the loonie, 83.01 versus the Aussie and 64.04 against t the kiwi from previous session's highs of 78.47, 82.54 and 63.65, respectively.
by RTT Staff Writer
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