Yen Recovers After Being Hurt by Market Sentiment, Retail Sales Match Expectations

The Japanese yen was soft today due to the positive market sentiment, which made traders less interested in safety provided by the currency. Currently, though, the yen has recovered against its major rivals, trading about flat versus most of them. Domestic macroeconomic data came out within expectations but as usual had limited impact on the currency.
Markets were generally in a risk-on mode today thanks to optimism about the upcoming meeting between the leaders of China and the United States. That was helpful to riskier currencies but less positive to safer ones, the yen being traditionally considered one of them. But the Japanese yen has managed to recover by now, perhaps because the optimism was clouded by skeptics and unpredictability of US President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reported that retail sales rose 1.2% in May, year-over-year, after increasing 0.4% in April. The actual reading matched forecasts exactly.
USD/JPY traded at 107.84 as of 10:25 GMT today after opening at 107.78 and rising to the daily maximum of 108.16. EUR/JPY was at about 122.60 following the rally from the open of 122.52 to the session high of 122.89. GBP/JPY rose from 136.71 to 137.04, and its session maximum was at 137.32.

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