Yen hits 6-month low vs. US dollar

LONDON: World shares edged toward six-year highs and the yen languished at long-term lows against the euro and dollar after a batch of strong US economic data.
The signs of a strengthening US jobs market and more cheerful consumers had spurred Wall Street to a record close on Wednesday, while reinforcing talk that the US Federal Reserve could start scaling back its monetary stimulus, which supported the dollar.
Japan’s Nikkei hit its highest in nearly six years while in Europe, Germany’s DAX touched an all-time high to lead the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index toward a third straight month of gains.
The dollar popped above 102.00 yen for the first time since May 29, but the euro maintained its grip on $1.36 as an acceleration in German inflation trumped the weak ECB lending data.
With the yen already on the back foot, the euro’s momentum took it past 139 yen for the first time since June 2009.
The surging dollar also pressured commodity bloc currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars.

The Indonesian rupiah went as low as 12,000 per dollar for the first time in nearly five years, while the Thai baht slid to its weakest level in 11 weeks.
European bond markets were little changed and focused on the outlook for inflation and its implications for the European Central Bank, which holds a policy meeting next week.