The yen rose for a second day against the dollar in automated forex trading

Online, July 22, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The yen rose for a second day against the dollar in automated forex trading and the euro on concern the U.S. recovery is faltering and European banks' stress tests will reveal loan losses, boosting demand for Japan's currency as a refuge.

The yen climbed toward the strongest this year versus the greenback before U.S. reports today that economists said will show initial jobless claims rose and existing home sales declined.

The euro fell to a two-week low against the yen after European regulators asked the region's biggest banks to detail their debt holdings from 30 countries, according to a template obtained by Bloomberg.

Asian stocks fell, dragging the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lower for the first time in three days, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the U.S. economic outlook remains "unusually uncertain."

Canon Inc., a camera maker that gets about 27 percent of its revenue in the Americas, decreased 1.2 percent in Tokyo. Honda Motor Co., which generates 42 percent of its sales in North America, lost 1.1 percent. Samsung Electronics Co., Asia's biggest maker of chips, flat screens and mobile phones, dropped 1.4 percent in Seoul.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3 percent to 115.30 as of 11:53 a.m. in Tokyo, after rising 0.3 percent in the past two days. The gauge has slumped 11 percent from this year's high on April 15 as Europe's debt crisis and China's steps to curb property prices fueled concern that global economic growth will slow. Speculation the U.S. economy will contract intensified as reports pointed to a retreat in manufacturing and home sales.