USD/JPY down to 101.30 on Safe Haven Demands

The yen and the dollar climbed while commodity and emerging-market currencies weakened with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry preparing to visit Kiev as Russia seized control of Ukraine’s Crimea region, intensifying one of the most serious standoffs since the Cold War ended.

The greenback will outperform amid rising volatility, while there’ll be an automatic selloff in the ruble as commodity currencies and Asian equities come under pressure, said Sebastien Galy at Societe Generale SA in New York. Haven assets such as Treasuries will climb as investors assess the impact on commodities, said Ian Lyngen at CRT Capital Group LLC.

At the end of a month in which global equities, bonds and commodities rose together for the first time since July, the crisis in Ukraine deteriorated as President Vladimir Putin won parliamentary backing to send troops into Russia’s southern neighbor. Crimea, where Russian speakers comprise the majority, has become the focal point of Ukraine’s crisis after an uprising that triggered last month’s overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych. Ukraine has put its forces on combat readiness and U.S. President Barack Obama warned Russia not to intervene.

Bloomberg

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