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Yen drops as Japan avoids G20 censure
February 18, 2013, 10:28 pm

The yen fell as the Tokyo Nikkei rose to 4-year highs [Getty Images]

The yen fell against major currencies as the Tokyo Nikkei rose to 4-year highs. [Getty Images]

Japan’s yen fell during early Monday trading to a nearly three-year low on news that the Moscow G20 summit did not single out Tokyo’s monetary policies.

“Currency wars contradict the principles of G20,” Anton Siluanov, Russia’s finance minister, said at the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Moscow over the weekend.

The ministers pledged to prevent the competitive devaluation of their currencies, after global worries over Japan depreciating the yen by around 20 per cent.

“We will refrain from competitive devaluation. We will not target our exchange rates for competitive purposes, will resist all forms of protectionism and keep our markets open,” said the statement issued after two-day talks of G20 finance ministers and central bankers.

The talks, however, fell short of censuring Japan over its monetary policies, implemented since newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to office.

Earlier in the year, European bankers had accused Tokyo of igniting a currency war, a charge Japan has vehemently denied.

Japanese officials have rejected the charge saying that the yen’s nearly 20 per cent drop is merely a correction from already too-high levels.

The yen fell Monday against all 16 of its major exchanges

They warned that the yen could likely fall to 100 against the dollar. Meanwhile, Japan’s track at the G20 helped the Nikkei share average to rise 2.1 per cent on Monday, nearing the 4-year high of 11,498.42 it reached in early February.

Source: Agencies