The yen fell against the New Zealand dollar and South African rand as renewed optimism the global economy is recovering, spurred demand for riskier investments.

The yen headed for a second day of losses against New Zealand’s dollar before a US report that economists said will show factory orders rebounded in September, spurring investors to buy higher-yielding assets. The dollar fell on speculation the Federal Reserve will this week keep interest rates near-zero and refrain from signaling a withdrawal of stimulus measures. Australia’s dollar erased gains after the central bank raised borrowing costs by 0.25 percentage point as analysts expected.

“Risk-taking appetite is returning, given that economies are improving,” said Norifumi Yoshida, vice president of the trading section at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “The yen is being sold.”

The yen dropped to 65.16 per New Zealand dollar as of 2:19 p.m. in Tokyo from 64.79 in New York yesterday. Japan’s currency declined to 11.3784 per South African rand from 11.80. It traded at 133.46 per euro from 133.32, and was at 90.25 versus the greenback from 90.21.

The dollar traded at $1.4788 per euro from $1.4775. The US currency weakened to 72.20 cents per New Zealand dollar from 71.82 cents.

Foreign-exchange rates may lack a clear direction in Asia as Japan has a national holiday, Yoshida said.

The dollar weakened before the Fed releases its monetary policy statement tomorrow at the conclusion of its policy meeting. The central bank in its previous meeting retained a commitment to keep rates near zero for an “extended period.”

The US banking system is still “far from robust,” hurt by a decline in commercial real-estate values and threatened by rising prospects for defaults on such loans, Jon Greenlee, associate director of the Fed’s Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation in Washington, said  in testimony to a House Oversight subcommittee hearing in Atlanta.

“The Fed is unlikely to revise the ‘extended period’ language, given the fragile economic recovery,” said Takashi Yamamoto, chief trader in Singapore at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp., a unit of Japan’s biggest bank. “The dollar is a favored funding currency globally, so its weakening trend is likely to persist.”