Numerous comments from both Japan’s Finance Minister Suzuki and Bank of Japan Governor Ueda appeared on the News Telegraph this morning in Tokyo, but neither could significantly support the yen. The counterfactual is that without them the Japanese Yen would have fallen faster, but here in the real world, the currency has fallen again regardless. USD/JPY rose to a high above 155.20.
Ueda said the Bank of Japan doesn’t necessarily have to wait until inflation reaches expectations within 18 months to two years to raise rates. Although this has not happened (yet), it is likely to cause some concern among yen shorts.
However, it was not only the yen that fell against the dollar. The euro, pound, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the unfortunate Canadian dollar have all weakened against the big dollar. With no new news or data to trigger it (today’s data agenda was blank), it was just a continuation of the dollar strength shown on Tuesday.
Bank of Japan Governor Ueda is scheduled to speak again today at 0830 GMT.
USD/JPY update:
