Yen Weakens, Dollar Gains After Official Says Bin Laden Is Dead

The yen and the Swiss franc weakened as equities climbed after President Barack Obama said al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. operatives, damping demand for the safest assets.

The U.S. Dollar Index snapped a nine-day decline and Canada’s dollar slid after Brent crude oil dropped the most in almost seven weeks following reports of bin Laden’s death. The euro strengthened versus the U.S. currency and the krona appreciated after reports showed manufacturing in the euro region and Sweden is picking up.

“This is risk-on plus the effect of the oil price,” said Ulrich Leuchtmann, head of currency strategy at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. That’s “pushing yen a little bit weaker and the same effect for the Swiss franc. Data has been pretty strong across the board.”

The yen depreciated 0.5 percent to 120.85 per euro as of 7:48 a.m. in New York and slid 0.3 percent to 81.46 per U.S. dollar. The euro advanced 0.2 percent to $1.4841 and climbed 0.4 percent to 1.2858 against the Swiss franc.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares added 0.7 percent, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 percent and futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased 0.6 percent. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose.

The franc weakened versus a majority of its most-traded peers and the yen snapped two-day gains versus the euro and the dollar after President Obama said bin Laden was killed by a team of U.S. operatives after a firefight at a house in Pakistan.