currencies that retail Japanese traders can trade

The Tokyo Financial Exchange will expand the number of currencies that retail Japanese traders can trade, from 7 to 25, in late October. That may mean the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar, perennial favorites of yield-seeking Japanese, could get eclipsed by the likes of the South African rand and Turkish lira. Of the 25, 11 are cross-rates, which to the Japanese includes euro/dollar. The sums are not trivial. The NKS quotes a trader as saying the amount in the Aussie and Kiwi together is $21 billion. Consider the yield on some of the soon-to-be-available currencies—Mexico, 8.25%; Russia, 11%, South Africa, 12% and Turkey, 16.75%.

Bye For Now

Barbara Rockefeller