The Japanese yen was soft today, failing to profit from its role as a safe haven, even as investors were nervous after the International Monetary Fund downgraded the global growth outlook and the United States showed willingness to enter a trade war with the European Union. Mixed domestic macroeconomic data did not help the currency.
Lending by Japanese banks increased 2.4% in March, year-on-year, whereas analysts had expected the same 2.3% rate of increase as in February.
Core machinery orders rose 1.8% in February after falling 5.4% in January but still missed the consensus forecast of a 3.0% growth.
The Producer Price Index showed a 1.3% rate of growth in March, year-on-year, accelerating from February’s 0.9% rate and beating the average forecast of 1.0%. Month-over-month, the pace of increase remained steady at 0.3%.
The total value of machinery tools orders dropped by 28.5% in March from a year ago, according to the preliminary estimate, after plummeting 29.3% in February.
USD/JPY was about flat at 111.17 as of 10:28 GMT today. EUR/JPY edged up from the opening of 125.18 to 125.34, bouncing from the daily low of 125.03. GBP/JPY rose from 145.04 to 145.33.
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