The Japanese yen was almost flat versus the US dollar today, but rose against other major currencies, like the euro and the Great Britain pound, after the Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged at today’s meeting.
Japanese yen maintained interest rates near zero and kept the ¥60–70 trillion asset purchase program intact. The BoJ said in the statement that “Japan’s economy is recovering moderately”. All in all, it looks that there are not many reasons for the central bank to add to already considerable stimulating measures.
Some analysts are worried that the yen’s appreciation may hurt carry trade. Carry traders borrow in countries with low borrowing costs, like Japan, and invest in economies with high return, but strengthening yen can eat away their profits as they will be repaying debts in the Japanese currency.
USD/JPY traded at 97.16, near the opening level of 97.24, as of 16:03 GMT today. EUR/JPY dropped from 132.45 to 132.00 and GBP/JPY fell from 157.10 to 156.12.
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