Japanese yen was mixed today, staying flat against most major currencies but falling versus commodity currencies. The yen managed to gain on the Swiss franc. Domestic macroeconomic data was mixed, giving the Japanese currency no help in finding direction.
The manufacturing index reported in the Business Outlook Survey by the Bank of Japan showed a drop of 7.8% in the fourth quarter of this year after declining 0.2% in the previous three months. That was a very unpleasant surprise to economists who had predicted an increase of 0.2%.
Also reported by the Bank of Japan, the Producer Price Index rose by 0.1% in November, year-on-year, after falling by 0.4% in October. Analysts had predicted no change. Month-on-month, the index rose by 0.2%, slowing compared with October’s 1.1% rate of growth.
BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda demonstrated an optimistic view on the global economy, saying that the economies of the United States and China are strong and stating that “overall global economy is expected to be relatively bright next year”. As for monetary policy, Kuroda reiterated that the central bank is ready to step up monetary easing in case of necessity but also stressed that he is aware of the dangers of an extremely long easing period.
USD/JPY was flat at 108.70 as of 18:13 GMT today after rising to 108.85 earlier. CHF/JPY dropped from 110.43 to 110.25. NZD/JPY gained from 71.12 to 71.37, bouncing from the daily low of 70.90.
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