Investing.com - The yen held gains against the dollar and the euro on Wednesday after rising overnight as tensions on the Korean peninsula escalated, bolstering safe haven demand.
USD/JPY was at 109.88 by 03.49 a.m. ET (07.49 a.m. GMT) after falling to a two-month trough of 109.75 overnight.
Market sentiment was hit after North Korea said on Wednesday that was looking at plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam; just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang that any threat would be met with "fire and fury."
Trump was responding to reports that North Korea had produced a miniaturized nuclear weapon that can be carried on its intercontinental ballistic missile.
EUR/JPY touched a two-week low of 128.71 overnight. It was last at 129.06.
The traditional safe haven Swiss franc was also higher against the dollar and the euro, with USD/CHF down 0.6% to 0.9684 and EUR/CHF losing 0.57% to trade at 1.1383.
The euro was little changed against the dollar, with EUR/USD at 1.1753.
The euro ended Tuesday’s session down 0.36% against the dollar after data showing that U.S. job openings surged to a record in June reinforced Friday's solid employment report.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade- weighted basket of six major currencies, was a touch lower at 93.42.
The risk sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars were also weaker.
AUD/USD was down 0.42% to 0.7880 while NZD/USD slid 0.16% to a three-week low of 0.7317.
The kiwi remained on the defensive ahead of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s meeting on Thursday, when it is widely expected to hold rates steady at record lows.