The Japanese yen gained against its main rivals today after the Bank of Japan kept monetary policy without change. Positive macroeconomic data also provided some support, though its impact was subdued.
The BoJ left the main interest rate at -0.1% and the size of annual asset purchases at ¥80 trillion as was widely expected. Analysts pointed out that the central bank said in the statement:
Medium- to long-term inflation expectations have been more or less unchanged recently, after having remained in a weakening phase since summer 2015.
While that was positive to the yen, BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda quelled optimism, stating that the bank is nowhere near considering policy normalization. Yet that did not prevent the Japanese currency from logging gains.
Released today, a government report revealed that the index for all industry activity increased by 1.0% in November from the previous month after rising 0.3% in October. The actual increase was slightly bigger than 0.9% predicted by analysts.
USD/JPY fell from 110.91 to 110.70 as of 9:50 GMT today. EUR/JPY declined from 135.99 to 135.53. GBP/JPY dropped from 155.08 to 154.36.
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