The Japanese Yen rose as most of the world equity markets fell. There was a rise in the risk aversion as investors moved to the Japanese yen. Camilla Sutton, currency strategist at Scotia Capital said: "The combination of today’s risk-averse trading and repatriation of yen have been the key drivers over the last 12 hours."
The GBP was under pressure against the dollar when UK ratings agency Fitch said Britain’s sovereign credit profile had deteriorated.
The dollar traded down 0.6 percent at 89.70 yen. The euro was down around 0.6 percent against the dollar at $1.3545.