A morning of mild gains in the yen today after it started at Y102.26 vs the dollar and at Y140.13 against the euro. Dollar-yen started the session in a tight Y102.22/29 range and while the release of Japan’s CGPI data had little impact on rates, dollar-yen began to grind lower after Japanese stocks started their session in the red. Early market intel pointed to offers from Japanese names at Y102.40/45 and option-related selling at Y102.50 behind the move lower but dollar-yen found minor support off Y102.20 initially.Dollar-yen then tracked euro-yen as the cross ran into selling pressure off its Y140.17 high and as the euro moved broadly lower. The cross fell to a Y139.94 low and dollar-yen followed it to Y102.14 before euro-yen then rebounded sharply, leading some players to speculate that semi-official demand had kicked in. Dollar-yen recovered to Y102.23 as euro-yen bounced to Y140.10. Dollar-yen was last at Y102.16 while the cross was at Y140.14. On the downside, dollar-yen bids are seen from around yesterday’s Y102.06 session low, down to Y102.00, with stops then expected on a break lower.
