The euro fell to a four-and-a-half-year low against the Swiss franc on Thursday and the yen gained as investors sought safe havens after China's Hubei province, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, reported a sharp increase in the number of new cases.
Using a new method of diagnosis, the province reported on Thursday 14,840 new cases of the virus as of Feb. 12, up from 1,638 new cases on Tuesday. The number of deaths in the province rose by 242, a daily record, to 1,310.
The initial move was to dump risky assets, however. After weakening to a three-and-a-half-week low the day before, the yen gained 0.3% against the dollar on Thursday to 109.770 yen.
The euro dipped to 1.0622 francs, below its 2016 trough of 1.0623 and its lowest level since August 2015. It last stood around 1.06235.
Source : Reuters