Swiss Franc banknotes sit in the office of a bank in this arranged photograph in Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday, Nov. 20, 2015.
The safe-haven Japanese yen and Swiss franc traded near multi-month highs against the dollar on Friday after an unexpected slump in U.S. manufacturing fuelled fears of a downturn, sending stocks and bond yields tumbling.
The yen traded around 0.2% stronger at 149.085 per dollar, after popping as high as 148.51 overnight for the first time since mid-March.
They were the only two major currencies to outperform the dollar overnight, which itself draws safe-haven flows, paradoxically even when the United States is the cause for concern.
ECB policymaker Yannis Stournaras raised the risk of a weak euro zone economy sending inflation below the 2% target in an interview published on Thursday, reaffirming his expectation for two rate cuts this year.
Persons:
Sterling, Tony Sycamore, Sycamore, BoE Governor Andrew Bailey, ECB policymaker Yannis Stournaras
Organizations:
Swiss, Bank of England, European Central Bank, Japan's Nikkei, IG, Federal Reserve, ECB policymaker
Locations:
Zurich, Switzerland, United States, Asia, U.S