The yen held on to gains against major currencies in early Asian trading on Thursday as growing signs of a global economic slump drove investors into safe-haven assets.

The Swiss franc and gold also edged higher as investors fled from stocks and sought safe-haven assets after the U.S. Treasury yield curve inverted for the first time in 12 years and U.S. stocks sold off sharply.

The inversion, where 2-year yields trade higher than 10-year yields, is considered by some analysts to be a sign that the U.S. economy is likely to enter a recession.

The dollar was a tad lower at 105.85 yen in Asian trading Thursday. On Wednesday, the yen rallied 0.8% versus the greenback, its biggest daily gain in two weeks.

The dollar index, which measures its value against a basket of six major currencies, stood at 97.987 after a 0.2% gain on Wednesday.

Source : Reuters