The Japanese yen opened above Friday’s close today, though by now the currency has retreated against most of its major rivals. Today’s macroeconomic data in Japan showed that economic growth slowed last quarter while other indicators missed expectations.
Japan’s Cabinet Office reported that gross domestic product rose 0.3% in the second quarter from the previous three months according to the final estimate. While the actual rate of growth matched expectations, it was slower than the previous quarter’s rate of 0.4% and the preliminary estimate of 0.6%.
As for other economic indicators, the Ministry of Finance reported that the seasonally adjusted current account surplus narrowed to ¥1.65 trillion in July from ¥1.94 trillion in the previous month. The actual value was slightly below the forecast ¥1.70 trillion. According to a report from the Bank of Japan, bank lending rose 2.1% in August from the previous year, whereas experts were anticipating the same 2.3% rate of increase as in July.
USD/JPY closed at 106.90 on Friday, opened at 160.80 today but advanced to 106.98 by 9:13 GMT today. EUR/JPY closed at 117.85 on Friday, opened at 117.74 on Monday but rose to 118.00 later. GBP/JPY traded at about 131.99 after closing at 131.82 on Friday and opening at 131.04 today.
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