The Swiss franc, the U.S. dollar and even the euro might be the best options for investors trading currencies in the face of rising threats from North Korea, analysts told CNBC.
“The CHF (Swiss franc) along with the JPY (Japanese Yen) are widely considered the usual safe-haven currencies. However, given geographical proximately I would expect the JPY to be most sensitive to issues regarding North Korea,” Jane Foley, head of forex strategy at Rabobank, told CNBC Wednesday.
In fact, the Swiss franc rose 1 percent against the dollar on Wednesday morning, as investors looked for safe options after North Korea said it was “carefully examining” a plan to strike Guam, where a U.S. military base is located.
Timothy Graf, head of macro strategy at State Street Global Markets, also cautioned against potential impacts on the Japanese currency, but he still believed it is probably the first option when searching for safety.
“Of course Japan is in the region so there are questions as to is that the one (currency) you want to buy … I still think it probably is in the sense that it has all the characteristics from a safe-haven currency,” Graf said, mentioning a fair value in the currency.
The yen was 0.5 percent up against the U.S. dollar in early morning trade in Europe on Wednesday.
“The Swiss franc you have to throw it in there as well, especially given it has cheapened considerably over the last month,” he added.
Some hedge funds had shortened their positions on the Swiss franc for the past few weeks to invest in European assets. This was due to strong economic data coming in from Europe, which attracted investors’ appetite.
Meanwhile, the euro might be the surprise winner from this debate about currency trading. Graf mentioned it as the third possible investment option. “The euro probably maintains some stability given its strong surplus position and relative cheapness,” he said. A high current account surplus can allow more room for investments.
The euro was slightly lower against the dollar on Wednesday.
“If things got truly dire, the dollar is going to come back into favor,” Graf also added.
Source: cnbc europe
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