Equity markets have tumbled, with the S&P 500 on course for the worst performance in a week since the 2008 financial crisis, as investors dumped riskier assets and piled into safe-haven currencies. That sent the Japanese yen to a seven-week high of 107.77 versus the dollar, last trading up 1.22%.
"The yen is significantly stronger from where it was even last week, when I was hearing people saying that the yen wasn't a safe-haven anymore. We're now back to appropriate levels," said Mark McCormick, global head of foreign exchange strategy at TD Securities.
With investors pulling out of higher-yielding and riskier currencies, that has helped the euro soar to a 3-1/2-week high of $1.105. It was last roughly flat at $1.100.
The US dollar index was last down 0.093% to 98.349. Against the pound the dollar was down 0.79% to 1.278.