Yen Falls for Second Day Against Euro Before Goldman Earnings

July 14 (Bloomberg) -- The yen weakened for a second day against the euro on speculation Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will report stronger earnings today, spurring investors to increase holdings of higher-yielding assets.

The euro traded near a one-week high against the dollar before a German report that economists said will show investor confidence rose to a three-year high in July, adding to evidence the recession in Europe’s largest economy is bottoming out. New Zealand’s dollar rose against 15 of the 16 most-active currencies after Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said the nation’s economy is likely to start recovering earlier than many of its trading partners.

“If we look at the trend of the economy and profits, it is evident that we have already gone through the worst of the recession,” said Yousuke Hosokawa, a senior currency dealer in Tokyo at Chuo Mitsui Trust & Banking Co., a unit of Japan’s seventh-largest banking group. “When the underlying risk appetite is improving, there is little reason to buy the yen.”

The yen fell to 130.25 per euro as of 8:29 a.m. in Tokyo from 129.95 yesterday in New York. The euro traded to $1.3997 from $1.3978. The yen was at 93.05 per dollar from 92.97.

German investor confidence rose to 47.8 this month from 44.8 in June, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists before the ZEW Center for European Economic Research releases its index of investor and analyst expectations today. The reading would be the highest since May 2006.

Stocks Rise

U.S. stocks advanced yesterday after analyst Meredith Whitney gave Goldman Sachs the only “buy” recommendation among the eight companies she covers. She told CNBC that the New York- based financial institution is going to “surprise big” when it reports second-quarter results today.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 2.4 percent after four weeks of losses, and Germany’s DAX Index climbed 3.2 percent.

The New Zealand dollar advanced for a second day after the central bank governor said early signs of a global recovery have now emerged.

“New Zealand looks likely to start recovering ahead of the pack,” Bollard said in notes for a speech delivered today in Napier. “We hope that in the next phase of recovery in financial market sentiment and return to risk seeking, the markets will be more discriminating about New Zealand,” he said.

The so-called kiwi rose to 63.39 U.S. cents from 63.23 cents yesterday and gained to 59.01 yen from 58.78 yen