Yen Advances As BoJ Maintains Monetary Stimulus
15 March 2019 - 2:23PM
RTTF2
The Japanese yen strengthened against its major counterparts in
the Asian session on Friday, after the Bank of Japan left its
monetary policy unchanged and gave a bleak assessment of the
Japanese economy, saying exports and production have weakened
recently due a slowdown in overseas economies.
The policy board of the BoJ decided to purchase government bonds
so that the yield of 10-year JGBs will remain at around zero
percent.
The board retained the -0.1 percent interest rate on current
accounts that financial institutions maintain at the bank.
The BoJ will conduct purchases of Japanese government bonds in a
flexible manner so that the outstanding amount will increase at an
annual pace of about JPY 80 trillion.
Asian stocks were broadly higher despite a fresh flare up in
U.S.-China trade concerns after U.S. President Donald Trump said he
was in no rush to complete a trade pact with China.
On the Brexit front, U.K. lawmakers have voted in favor of
delaying the process of exiting from EU by at least three months,
but decisively rejected a call for a second referendum.
Prime Minister Theresa May said Brexit could be delayed by three
months to June 30 if MPs back her withdrawal deal in a vote next
week.
The yen appreciated to 111.49 against the greenback, up from a
9-day low of 111.90 seen at 9:15 pm ET. The yen is likely to find
resistance around the 110.00 area.
The Japanese currency recovered to 147.70 against the pound and
111.25 against the franc from its early low of 148.23 and a 10-day
low of 111.47, respectively. The yen is poised to challenge
resistance around 145.00 against the pound and 110.00 against the
franc.
The yen reversed from an early session's low of 126.57 against
the euro, rising back to 126.25. If the yen extends rise, 124.00 is
possibly seen as its next resistance level.
After declining to a 9-day low of 79.24 against the aussie and
near a 3-month low of 76.56 against the kiwi, the yen changed its
course and rose slightly to 79.00 and 76.32, respectively. On the
upside, 77.5 and 74.00 are likely seen its next resistance levels
against the aussie and the kiwi, respectively.
Having dropped to a 10-day low of 84.00 against the loonie at
8:30 pm ET, the yen reversed direction and bounced off to 83.73.
The next possible resistance for the yen is seen around the 82.00
region.
Looking ahead, Eurozone final inflation for February is due in
the European session.
In the New York session, Canada existing home sales for February
and manufacturing sales for January, as well as New York Fed's
manufacturing survey for March, U.S. industrial production for
February and University of Michigan's preliminary consumer
sentiment sentiment index for March are scheduled for
publication.
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