The Japanese yen rose against the US dollar today but fell against other major rivals. The drop followed last week’s substantial gains.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda reiterated during today’s speech that the central bank is going to maintain monetary stimulus till inflation reaches the 2% goal. Kuroda had a fairly optimistic outlook for Japan’s economy, despite stagnating consumer price growth, saying:
Japanâs economy is expected to continue expanding moderately in the future.
Tuesday’s macroeconomic data supported such outlook as the current account surplus widened from â¥2.03 trillion to â¥2.27 trillion in August from the previous month instead of shrinking as analysts had predicted. The Economy Watchers Sentiment reported by Cabinet Office increased from 49.7 to 51.3 in September, far above market expectations.
Japan’s general election scheduled for October 22 remains a major factor that can be affecting the yen going forward. While it is expected that the Liberal Democratic Party of the incumbent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will remain in power, it is likely that the currency’s volatility will be increasing as the date of the voting nears.
USD/JPY fell from 112.67 to 112.36 as of 19:39 GMT today, reaching the low of 111.98 intraday. EUR/JPY gained from 132.29 to 132.72. GBP/JPY advanced from 148.05 to 148.40.
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