Yen Rises Amid Rising Risk Aversion

The Japanese yen strengthened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Monday amid rising risk aversion, tracking the lackluster cues from Wall Street Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump's failure to pass a bill to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system.

House Republican leaders decided to withdraw Trump's healthcare bill intended to repeal and replace Obamacare amid indications of a lack of support. The inability to advance the bill has cast doubt on Trump's ability to deliver on promises of increased infrastructure spending, tax cuts and deregulation.

In economic news, the Bank of Japan said that corporate service prices in Japan were up 0.8 percent on year in February. That exceeded forecasts for 0.5 percent, which would have been unchanged from the January reading.

Last Friday, the yen had held steady against its major rivals.

In the Asian trading, the yen rose to a 5-day high of 138.05 against the pound, from Friday's closing value of 138.83. The yen is likely to find resistance around the 136.00 area.

Against the euro and the Swiss franc, the yen advanced to 119.60 and 111.63 from last week's closing quotes of 120.18 and 112.26, respectively. If the yen extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 118.00 against the euro and 110.00 against the franc.

Against the U.S., the Australian, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the yen climbed to nearly a 5-month high of 110.26, a 3-month high of 83.99, more than a 4-month high of 77.67 and a 5-day high of 82.66 from Friday's closing quotes of 111.31, 84.85, 78.24 and 83.16, respectively. On the upside, 109.00 against the greenback, 82.00 against the aussie, 76.00 against the kiwi and 81.00 against the loonie are seen as the next resistance levels for the yen.

Looking ahead, the German Ifo business climate index for March is due to be released at 4:00 am ET.

At 1:15 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans and European Central Bank Chief Economist Peter Praet are expected to speak about the current economic conditions and monetary policy at the Global Interdependence Center, in Madrid.