SINGAPORE/LONDON >> Hopes that the U.S. government could soon reopen weighed on the safe-haven Japanese yen and boosted the growth-exposed Australian dollar today, with domestic factors also in the mix for both, while European currencies were largely unmoved.

Against the yen, the dollar was up 0.5% at 154.22 yen, back threatening the nine-month highs it reached earlier in the month.

The Aussie dollar was up 0.55% on the dollar at $0.6532 and up more than 1% on the yen. That pair is sometimes used as a barometer of sentiment towards global growth, and often moves in line with equity markets, which were higher today. “The archetypal ‘risk on’ trade at the moment is the Australian dollar/Japanese yen cross,” said Kit Juckes, chief FX strategist at Societe Generale. The U.S. Senate on Sunday

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