On Wednesday, the British pound (GBP) continued its upward trend against the Japanese yen (JPY), drawing attention from buyers and pushing the price closer to the 217.00 mark, approaching the all-time high of 217.22. Comments from some officials at the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised doubts about the bank’s plans to tighten monetary policy, which added to the downward pressure on the already weak yen.
Earlier in the day, Toichiro Asada, a committee member at Japan’s central bank, who notably opposed June’s interest rate increase, stated that the bank needs to see evidence of demand-driven inflation to justify further tightening.
Asada, who was recently appointed to the bank’s board by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (a staunch supporter of low interest rates for economic growth), indicated that while BOJ officials are “not always opposed” to raising interest rates, their comments also suggest political pressures that might limit the bank’s ability to shift policy towards normalization.
Technical analysis: Pound may hit new highs near 218.00
The GBP/JPY pair is currently trading at 216.89, significantly above the previous highs around 216.00, which points to a bullish tendency in the near term. The 4-hour chart shows the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at about 66.72, indicating robust momentum. Yet, a neutral Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is somewhat tempering the bullish sentiment.
Bulls are testing the 217.00 level, just above the notable peak of 217.22. Beyond this point, the pair would enter uncharted waters. However, in a broader context, it seems this currency pair might be in the fifth wave of the Elliott Wave bullish cycle, with a reasonable target at the 218.00 level based on a 127.2% retracement of last week’s downturn.
Support is found at Tuesday’s low of 216.41 and the high from July 2 at 216.00. If prices dip further, the focus will shift to the lows from July 2nd and 3rd, situated between 214.70 and 214.80.
Today’s Japanese yen price
The following table details the percentage changes of the Japanese Yen (JPY) against several major currencies today. The yen showed particular strength against the Australian dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | australian dollar | new zealand dollar | swiss franc | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.00% | 0.06% | 0.18% | -0.24% | 0.07% | -0.49% | -0.07% | |
| EUR | -0.00% | 0.05% | 0.20% | -0.25% | 0.07% | -0.49% | -0.07% | |
| GBP | -0.06% | -0.05% | 0.13% | -0.30% | 0.00% | -0.54% | -0.15% | |
| JPY | -0.18% | -0.20% | -0.13% | -0.43% | -0.10% | -0.68% | -0.27% | |
| CAD | 0.24% | 0.25% | 0.30% | 0.43% | 0.33% | -0.25% | 0.16% | |
| australian dollar | -0.07% | -0.07% | -0.01% | 0.10% | -0.33% | -0.56% | -0.18% | |
| new zealand dollar | 0.49% | 0.49% | 0.54% | 0.68% | 0.25% | 0.56% | 0.39% | |
| swiss franc | 0.07% | 0.07% | 0.15% | 0.27% | -0.16% | 0.18% | -0.39% |
