Traders Buy Yen amid Fed Tapering Concerns

The Japanese yen was rising today, getting help from speculations that the US Federal Reserve will reduce the scale of its asset purchases as early as this month. The currency has started to lose its gains, but stays above the opening level for now.

The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision on December 18. Traders speculate that the US central bank may reduce its asset-purchasing program, which currently stands at $85 billion per month.

Today’s positive employment data reinforced such speculations. Now, all eyes are turned on Friday’s non-farm payrolls. If they demonstrate growth below 200,000 (and the median estimates suggests that it may indeed be so) than the outlook may change completely.

USD/JPY fell from 102.35 to 101.80 intraday, but bounced to 102.39 as of 23:35 GMT today. EUR/JPY was near 139.08 after it opened at 139.27 and touched the daily low of 138.41. GBP/JPY was down from 168.00 to 167.67 following the drop to 166.85.

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