The Japanese yen fell, reaching the lows not seen since 2010 against the US dollar and the euro, on talks that a new head of the Japanese central bank will increase stimulus as the nation’s economy remains weak.
The term of current Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa ends in April. There are speculations that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will choose a new BoJ leader that will be more aggressive with stimulating the failing Japan’s economy.
And the Japanese economy indeed looks like it needs stimulating as recent macroeconomic reports were not good at all. Household spending fell 0.7 percent in December from a year ago after rising 0.2 percent in the previous month. The unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked up from 4.1 percent to 4.2 percent in December.
USD/JPY rose from 91.69 to 92.86 and EUR/JPY advanced from 124.48 to 126.79. GBP/JPY closed at 145.79 after opening at 145.38 and touching the high of 146.46.
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