(Reuters) The yen and Swiss franc gained on Friday, as investors sought the safe-haven currencies due to nagging U.S.-China trade war jitters, renewed political uncertainty in Italy and weak economic data around the world.
Deep liquidity and current account surpluses in Japan and Switzerland attract safe-haven flows to those currencies during times of geopolitical and economic stress.
“What wouldn’t make safe havens look attractive this week,” said John Doyle, vice president for dealing and trading at Monex, Inc. in Washington.
“The equity board is awash in red. The trade tensions are a big thing and if you look around the world, all the data were negative, or at least concerning. So of course, we’re going to see an uptick in the Swissie (franc) and the yen,” he added.
