The Japanese yen climbed against the US dollar on Monday, as currency traders anticipated the latest monetary policy decision from the Bank of Japan. The central bank will release a statement containing its latest policy decision overnight.
Investors are expecting that the Bank of Japan will keep its monetary policy unchanged, while lifting its forecast for the economic growth in 2017 higher. The Japanese economy has been showing signs of health recently, of which the latest came from the Ministry of Finance. Data released by the ministry in a preliminary report earlier today showed that the Japanese trade surplus was 152.51 billion yen in November, compared to 496.2 billion yen in October and 387.49 billion yen in November 2015.
The data revealed that both imports and exports improved, which happened in part due to the weakening of the yen in November that contributed to the growth rates of trade values. The lower exchange rate of the yen is also expected to drive inflation higher.
The yen climbed higher today as demand for the Japanese currency rose following an attack in Ankara, Turkey. The attack, which happened at an art gallery in the Turikish capital, took the life of the Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov. It is not yet clear who was behind the attack but Islamic State militants have been behind a number of attacks in Turkey in 2016. Concerned investors sought the safety of the Japanese yen.
USD/JPY traded at 116.71 as of 18:25 GMT on Monday, after touching 116.57 at 16:50 GMT, the pairâs lowest level since December 14. USD/JPY opened trading this week at 117.95.
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