The Japanese yen today rallied against the US dollar driven by the risk-off sentiment, which dominated markets from the early European session. The USD/JPY currency pair extended its losses in the early American session following the release of disappointing US retail sales report.
The USD/JPY currency pair today fell from a high of 109.69 in the European session to a low of 109.13 in the early American session, but had recovered most of its losses at the time of writing.
The currency pair traded in a sideways manner at the start of today’s session as Asian markets rallied higher boosted by investor hopes that China would initiate further stimulus measures. The yen rallied briefly following the release of Japanese housing starts for March, which came in at an annualized 10.0% versus the expected 5.8% print.However, the risk sentiment abated in the early European session as traders from the region were quite risk-averse in the face of the US-China trade standoff. The US and China have instituted retaliatory tariffs on each others exports and the US has threatened to ban Chinese telecom products, while China has threatened severe countermeasures.
The yen extended its gains against the greenback following the release of disappointing US advance retail sales data in the early American session. According to the Census Bureau report, headline US retail sales contracted by 0.2%, while core sales missed expectations by 0.6%.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by trade headlines and tomorrow’s US housing data.
The USD/JPY currency pair was trading at 109.58 as at 14:33 GMT having recovered from a low of 109.13. The CAD/JPY currency pair was trading at 81.40 having risen from a low of 80.91.
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