The Japanese yen slumped today after poor macroeconomic data spurred speculations that the Bank of Japan will intervene yet again to weaken the currency. The central bank has been indicating for a long time that the strong currency is dangerous for the economy.
Japan’s exports rose just 0.9 percent in September from August, significantly trailing imports that increased as much as 10.0 percent. That led to an increase of the trading deficit from ¥0.46 billion to ¥0.98 billion. On an annual basis, export slipped 10.3 percent, demonstrating the biggest drop since May 2011. Economy Minister Seiji Maehara called for the BoJ to take actions for weakening the yen and the poor data added incentive for the central bank to do so.
USD/JPY jumped from 79.28 to 79.82 as of 12:47 GMT today, reaching the highest level since July 12. EUR/JPY soared from 103.22 to 104.20 and its intraday maximum of 104.38 was the highest since May 8.
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