The Japanese yen rallied today against all other major currencies as various concerns put the Forex market in a risk-off mode, meaning that traders preferred safer currencies. Economic data from Japan also helped to buoy the attractiveness of the currency.
News from Europe was mostly disappointing, reminding investors that Europe has plenty of troubles and it has hard time getting rid of them. While US data was good for the most part, some of worse-than-expected reports spoiled the overall positive picture of the US economy. The political crisis in Ukraine, coupled with the resulting tensions between Russia and the West, is yet another reason for speculators to seek safer assets.
Japan’s gross domestic product grew 1.5 percent in the first quarter of this year (seasonally adjusted), according to the preliminary estimate, exceeding the previous quarter increase of 0.1 percent and the median forecast of 1.0 percent. The accelerating growth means smaller chances for additional monetary easing and higher appeal of the Japanese currency.
USD/JPY declined from 101.88 to 101.51 as of 19:04 GMT today. EUR/JPY went down from 139.72 to 139.21 and GBP/JPY dropped from 170.82 to 170.50.
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