Euro rose against the yen and the pound on fx trading as President of European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet stated he sees clear signs the worst of recession has finally passed.

The currency that serves 16 nations also stopped a race down against the dollar as both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England kept their interest rates unchanged.

The British bank kept its main rate at 0.5 percent. ECB kept is rate on hold at 1 percent. Bank´s president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said that rate level was appropriate.

UBS´ currency strategist, Geoffrey Yu, said that Trichet “hedged himself quite nicely by saying rates are appropriate for now, but it doesn’t mean they will be appropriate in the future.”

Euro moved up to 136.19 yen at 2:27 pm London time from a 135.93 on previous New York session. Dollar also made some gains against the yen to 96.44 from a previous 95.99.

Yen dropped versus 12 of the 16 most traded forex currencies after Minister of Finance in Japan said investors had bought an approximate $10.2 billion od overseas bonds.
“Japanese investors are beginning to get an appetite for foreign investment, which is weighing on the yen,” stated David Forrester, a strategist at Barclays Capital.