The Japanese yen gained on commodity currencies but was trading flat against most major currencies, with the exception of the US dollar. Domestic macroeconomic data was decent, with the GDP figure getting a positive revision compared with the preliminary report.
Japan’s Cabinet Office reported that gross domestic product rose by 0.4% in the third quarter of this year according to the final estimate. That is compared with the preliminary estimate that showed an increase of just 0.1%. The annual growth rate got a huge revision from 0.2% to 1.8%. It was the fourth consecutive quarter of growth, which showed that the Japanese economy remains in a good state despite global headwinds.
According to the report from the Bank of Japan, lending by Japanese banks increased by 2.1% in November from a year ago after rising by 2.0% in October. The actual value matched analysts’ forecasts perfectly.
The Ministry of Finance reported that the current account surplus widened to ¥1.73 trillion in October from ¥1.49 trillion in the previous month, also matching forecasts.
There will be plenty of economic reports released in Japan during this week, including the Tankan survey and industrial production that will come out on Friday. But yen will most likely react more to outside news, like developments in the US-China trade talks, monetary policy decisions of major central banks, and the elections in the United Kingdom.
USD/JPY fell from 108.63 to 108.46 as of 12:21 GMT today. EUR/JPY was about flat at 120.12. AUD/JPY declined from 74.21 to 74.01, and CAD/JPY dropped from 81.94 to 81.80.
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