The Japanese yen was the weakest currency on the Forex market today after the market sentiment improved, limiting demand for the currency in its role as a safe haven. Traders felt more optimistic after the seemingly positive developments in the trade talks between the United States and China.
Relations between the USA and China strained as US President Donald Trump was accusing the Asian nation of mishandling the coronavirus epidemic and withholding information about it, which led to the global pandemic. He even threatened to scrap the phase one of the trade deal. That made investors scared, making them prefer safer assets and causing risk aversion on markets. But things seemed to change after telephone talks between Washington and Beijing. USTR and the Treasury said in a joint statement:
Both sides agreed that good progress is being made on creating the governmental infrastructures necessary to make the agreement a success. They also agreed that in spite of the current global health emergency, both countries fully expect to meet their obligations under the agreement in a timely manner.
The news improved the mood among investors and made them more willing to buy riskier assets while dumping safer ones.
Japan released a couple of macroeconomic reports today. The Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare released the Report of Monthly Labour Survey for March, which showed an increase of average cash earning by 0.1% compared with the same month of the previous year. The reading matched market expectations. Data from the Statistics Bureau of Japan revealed that household spending fell by 6.0% in March over the year. Yet the actual drop was not as big as analysts had predicted — 6.3%.
USD/JPY edged up from 106.24 to 106.36 as of 11:12 GMT today. EUR/JPY rose from 115.10 to 115.32. GBP/JPY went up from 131.20 to 131.65, reaching the high of 131.95 intraday.
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