The Japanese yen sank today as the nation’s current-account deficit widened, reaching the historic high level, leading to concerns that policy makers will be forced to take additional steps to spur economic revival in Japan.
Japan’s current account gap increased to ¥5.93 billion in November from ¥1.28 in December. Forecasters have promised that it would not change much.
The data does not bode well for Japan’s economy and the Bank of Japan may add to its already considerable stimulating measures to preserve pace of economic expansion. There were hopes that the yen has bottomed out, but such view looks doubtful in the light of the recent report. As a result, many specialists short the yen, especially against the dollar.
USD/JPY advanced from 102.97 to 104.23 as of 23:34 GMT today. EUR/JPY jumped from 140.77 to 142.51 and GBP/JPY surged from 168.71 to 171.30.
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