The Japanese yen gained against most major currencies on Friday. That is despite comments of the central bank’s chief and risk appetite on markets, which limited appeal of safe currencies.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said that, while the Japanese economy is on track to reaching the central bank’s 2% inflation target, the trade war between the United States and China may derail it:
We can’t rule out the possibility that conditions will deteriorate further, so we need to be vigilant mainly on developments in U.S.-China trade tensions.
He stated that policymakers have various tools to help the economy, and cutting interest rates “further into the negative zone is always an option”.
The market sentiment was positive today, making investors less interested in safety and driving them to riskier currencies. Yet for some reason that did not prevent the yen from gaining on majors, though not commodity currencies and, surprisingly, against the rather soft US dollar.
USD/JPY ended trading near at 106.90, near the opening level, rebounding from the session low of 106.62. EUR/JPY fell from 118.00 to 117.85, retreating from the session high of 118.26. GBP/JPY dropped from 131.82 to 131.33.
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