Another yen play dominated session in Asia, dollar-yen started at Y102.67 while euro-yen opened at Y141.35 and the rates dipped to session lows of Y102.56 & Y141.23 respectively before rebounding back to highs of Y102.70 & Y141.41. Dollar-yen surged to fresh high of Y102.95 from Y102.65 after Japan trade data but eased off to Y102.74 while euro-yen hit a high of Y141.74 before a pullback to Y141.44 to stage a rally to daily high of Y141.89 and dollar-yen jumped to hit intraday high of Y103.04, just shy of NY’s high of Y103.06 and below Asia high of Y103.13 yesterday. The rates unable to break higher saw liquidation of profits before Europe steps in and retreats to Y102.94 & Y141.79 currently in afternoon session. Though Japan exports rose for the 9th straighttime but imports rose for the 13th straight time which led to a widening trade deficit, albeit lower than market expectations. Weaker yen as compared to last year hasn’t push export volume as much as expected and imports expected to continue outpacing exports. The Nikkei advanced 1.52% last on better exports numbers and yen cross buying with demand for dollar-yen during Tokyo fix kept dollar-yen supported.
