The Japanese yen continued to show great weakness during the past year even as some of news should have been supportive for the currency. It looks like policy makers have made the currency rather unattractive for investors, which actually makes it easier for the central bank to achieve its inflation target.
There were quite a few positive events for the yen. Inflation accelerated, coming nearer to the 2 percent target. The economic outlook was relatively good for the yen too, but the currency did not profit from it, perhaps because some of policy makers were concerned about slowing growth.
Overall, the Japanese currency was very weak not only over the past week, but also during the whole year. Such weakness is likely to persist in the next year as the government and policy makers want to boost inflation and revive inflation, making weaker currency their ally in this endeavor.
USD/JPY rose from 103.99 to 105.16, the highest weekly close since September 2010. EUR/JPY was up from 142.17 to 144.49, while the weekly high was at 145.67. GBP/JPY climbed from 169.87 to 173.21.
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