The Japanese Yen is on course to make its third weekly loss against a number of its peers including the Pound and US Dollar.
The currency has tumbled in recent days and managed to breach the 100 level against the ‘Greenback’ for the first time in two months after the Japanese government signalled that is prepared to fight to keep the Yen weak in order to bolster exports and get the economy moving.
The currency’s weakness came after Finance Minister Taro Aso said; “Japan must have tools to counter speculative moves in the currency market.”
His comments caused investors to increase their bets that Japan would likely take action to counter anything that potentially strengthened the Yen; a stance which is likely to cause Central Banks in other country’s to take similar action and could risk a new bout of the currency wars. Already the European Central Bank has hinted that it could introduce more stimulus measures to soften the Euro and the USA is likely to continue with its own massive easing programme.
Next week sees the Bank of Japan meet for its monthly policy meeting which is expected to confirm expectations that it could introduce more stimulus measures. The weaker annualised GDP data released on Thursday is expected to be a key driver for the BOJ to maintain its aggressive easing stance.
Following comments made by Janet Yellen, the favoured candidate to replace outgoing Federal Reserve Governor Ben Bernanke that the Central Bank may not taper its easing programme in December as investors were expecting the market is on course for a new currency war.
Current Japanese Yen (JPY) Exchange Rates:
The US Dollar/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 100.2895
The Pound Sterling/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 161.0277
The Euro/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 134.9110
The New Zealand Dollar/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 83.0319
The Australian Dollar/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 93.4798
(Correct as of 09:45 am GMT)
Comments are closed.