Yen plunges as Japan in 'very severe' state

The yen fell 0.9% to 81.53 per dollar in early trading in New York after the central bank's governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the economy is in a "very severe" state, reports Bloomberg. Its fall has led to speculation Japan may ease monetary policy further after the 11 March earthquake sent huge shockwaves through its economy. The Japanese currency has slumped 4.1% this year - the biggest decline in the Bloomberg Correlation Weighted Indexes, added the newswire. Japan has said damage from March's earthquake was worse than originally thought but believes it can end its nuclear crisis ...