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The yen falls from its temporary two-week-high after North Korea reiterated its interest in holding talks with the United States President Donald Trump’s, despite his decision to cancel the June summit.
Following Trump’s Thursday announcement, where he his plans to call off the meeting with North Korean president Kim Jong Un were made public, the value of the dollar plummeted by 0.81 percent while the South Korean coin fell .6 percent.
"What we are noticing in the market is a sudden change in investor sentiment, where traders are becoming less inclined to look at riskier assets and are encouraged to safe havens instead," Jameel Ahmad, a currency strategy and market research expert at FXTM, told CNBC.
The dollar had been rising for weeks on its widening yield advantage but began to lose momentum after minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting published on Wednesday were seen as more dovish than markets had expected.
Trump blamed the cancellation on what he said was Pyongyang’s “open hostility,” and warned that the U.S. military was ready in the event of any reckless acts by North Korea.
However after the official statement North Korean officials Thursday, traders were quick to lock in gains ahead of a long weekend in the United States.
“The risk-off mood eased a bit after North Korea said it’s open to talks during early Asian trade,” said Shuntaro Ikeshima, chief manager of forex and financial products trading division at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp.
In response to the letter released by the White House, Foreign Ministry official Kim Kye Gwan reiterated Kim Jong Un’s willingness to meet with Trump “at any time and in any way.”
"We reiterate to the US that we are willing to sit face to face at any time and in any way," the minister said Friday, adding that Trump’s statement was not in line with decisions made by those interested in peace and stability in the Korean peninsula.
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