The pair rose 0.34% to 97.15 during Tuesday’s Asian after the Japanese currency was home to safe-haven buying Monday. USD/JPY. Amid plunging commodities prices and the worst day since November for US equities, traders searched for safe-haven plays Monday, embracing the yen as one alternative to the greenback. Traders also stepped back from selling the yen ahead of this week’s G20 meeting in Washington, D.C. That meeting starts Thursday and some traders appear skittish that other G20 members will again voice concerns about Japan’s weak yen policy. Earlier this year, the G20 chided Japan regarding the falling yen amid complaints from export-dependent nations such as Germany. The US Treasury said last week Japan must remain focused on domestic economic repair and must “refrain from competitive devaluation and targeting its exchange rate for competitive purposes.” Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has tried to convince Japan’s trading partners his country is not looking for another currency war. Still, the weak yen has been lifting Japanese stocks this year. Japanese equities are Asia’s best performers in 2013. BoJ has imposed a two-year time frame in which to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s desired rate of inflation of 2%. USD/JPY should be in focus later today as the U.S. is expected to publish official data on building permits, an excellent indicator of future construction activity and on housing starts. The U.S. is also to release data on consumer inflation, industrial production and the capacity utilization rate. EUR/JPY rose 0.40% to 126.66, AUD/JPY climbed 0.60% to 100.38. NZD/JPY advanced 0.91% to 82.06.
EasyForexNews Research Team