* Japan FX intervention pushs yen sharply lower, Nikkei up
* World stocks, oil and copper slip
By Dominic Lau
LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The dollar climbed and world
stocks were mixed on Wednesday after Japan intervened in foreign
exchange markets for the first time in six years to curb the
surging yen and protect its fragile economic recovery.
Estimates vary on how much Japan has spent so far in its
first intervention in the foreign exchange market since spending
35 trillion ($409 billion) in 2003-2004. Dealers talk about
300-500 billion yen, though some reports put it closer to 100
billion yen. []
The dollar rose 2.5 percent to a 85.17 yen <JPY=>, close to
a session high of 85.53 hit on trading platform EBS after having
dropped to a 15-year low of 82.87 yen earlier, and was up 0.7
percent against a basket of major currencies <.DXY>.
Tokyo stocks <> rose 2.3 percent, helped by gains for
exporters like Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>, which rose 3.8
percent. But world stocks <.MIWD00000PUS>overall were a touch
lower.
"I think we're now going to see persistent official buying
of dollar/yen in the near-term," said Adam Cole, head of
currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets.
"But in the long-term I'm not sure it will be sustained as
the current administration is less interventionist than the LDP
who were in power during the last bout of intervention in 2004."
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Stories on yen strength, intervention []
PDF on yen's rise: http://r.reuters.com/zuz33p
Reuters Insider TV-Dlr bounce http://link.reuters.com/fet63p
Graphic on yen strength: http://r.reuters.com/puw56n
Analysis on Japan political risk: http://r.reuters.com/jyj83n
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
The intervention also helped send the euro, Australian
dollar and sterling sharply higher on the day against the
Japanese currency, although traders doubted Tokyo had bought
anything other than dollars for yen.
The euro was up 2.4 percent at 110.45 yen <EURJPY=>.
"Speculators have been long of yen so there is scope for
further yen selling. But there's scepticism over whether the
Japanese can change the trend as fundamentals haven't altered,"
Beat Siegenthaler, fx strategist at UBS, said.
The dollar is still down 8.3 percent this year against the
yen, which seen by investors as a safe haven from concerns over
global growth.
NIKKEI UP, WORLD STOCKS EASE
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> slipped 0.4
percent, while the Thomson Reuters Peripheral Eurozone Countries
Index <.TRXFLDPIPU> eased 1 percent.
"It (the intervention) has not really done much over here,"
a London-based trader said. "The market has had a very good run
over the last few weeks and (investors) are looking for a point
to take some profits off."
U.S. stock index futures <SPc2> <DJc2> <NDc2> were flat to
down 0.3 percent, indicating a slightly softer opening for Wall
Street ahead of the U.S. industrial production data.
Promising retail sales reports on Tuesday added to optimism
that the U.S. economic recovery, while slow, is not stalling.
World stocks measured by MSCI All-Country World Index
<.MIWD00000PUS> dipped 0.2 percent after five days of gains. The
index, trading at a one-year forward price-to-earnings of 11.23
versus a 10-year average of 15.2, is still down 6.7 percent
since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt this day two years ago.
The S&P 500 <.SPX> is down 10 percent for the same period
and crude oil <CLc1> down 25 percent.
Oil prices fell 1.5 percent to trade below $76 a barrel on
Wednesday, down for the second day, while copper <MCU3> slipped
0.8 percent.
Yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries <US10YT=RR> were
up 3 basis points at 2.7044 percent, while those on 10-year
German Bunds <DE10YT=RR> were up 1 basis point at 2.388 percent.
(Additional reporting by Charlotte Cooper in Tokyo, Nick Macfie
in Singapore, Neal Armstrong and Simon Jessop in London, and
Blaise Robinson in Paris; editing by Patrick Graham)
