Investing.com - The Japanese yen weakened smartly ahead of revised GDP data after remarks at the weekend by Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda that scaling back current aggressive monetary policy may be more difficult than a five-year effort that ended in 2006.
JPY/USD traded at 103.15, up 0.29%, on the comments and ahead of revised figures for third quarter GDP with a forecast of +0.4% quarter-on-quarter at 0850 local time (2350 GMT).
Kuroda said on Saturday at the University of Tokyo, that the scale of the current program is an issue.
"The exit from the current monetary easing may be more difficult" than when the BOJ terminated its quantitative easing program because it has been buying much larger amounts of long-term Japanese government bonds," Kuroda said, adding that the main problem facing Japan is protracted deflation and aggressive easing remains the answer.
"How should we raise inflation expectations through policy in a situation in which there is little room to further lower nominal interest rates? This is the challenge we are faced with, and the QQE is the prescription."
AUD/USD traded at 0.9120, up 0.17%, ahead of November ANZ job ads at 1130 local time (0030 GMT).
Last week, the euro rose to five week highs against the dollar on Friday as the dollar shrugged off a report showing that the U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in November.
The U.S. economy added 203,000 jobs in November, above expectations for jobs growth of 180,000, the Labor Department said. The unemployment rate fell to a five year low of 7.0% from 7.3% in October.
In the week ahead, the U.S. is to release what will be closely watched data on retail sales, while German trade data and euro zone data on industrial production will also be in focus.
On Monday, in the euro zone, Germany is to release reports on the trade balance and industrial production. In addition, the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers is to hold talks in Brussels.
Also at the weekend, Greece's parliament approved at midnight Saturday a 2014 budget hat includes EUR1.2 billion in new taxes, EUR3.2 billion in spending cuts and EUR3.9 billion in revenues from real estate taxes.
Separately, the European Commission's Economic and Monetary Affairs said it would resume technical talks with Greece in January.
JPY/USD traded at 103.15, up 0.29%, on the comments and ahead of revised figures for third quarter GDP with a forecast of +0.4% quarter-on-quarter at 0850 local time (2350 GMT).
Kuroda said on Saturday at the University of Tokyo, that the scale of the current program is an issue.
"The exit from the current monetary easing may be more difficult" than when the BOJ terminated its quantitative easing program because it has been buying much larger amounts of long-term Japanese government bonds," Kuroda said, adding that the main problem facing Japan is protracted deflation and aggressive easing remains the answer.
"How should we raise inflation expectations through policy in a situation in which there is little room to further lower nominal interest rates? This is the challenge we are faced with, and the QQE is the prescription."
AUD/USD traded at 0.9120, up 0.17%, ahead of November ANZ job ads at 1130 local time (0030 GMT).
Last week, the euro rose to five week highs against the dollar on Friday as the dollar shrugged off a report showing that the U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in November.
The U.S. economy added 203,000 jobs in November, above expectations for jobs growth of 180,000, the Labor Department said. The unemployment rate fell to a five year low of 7.0% from 7.3% in October.
In the week ahead, the U.S. is to release what will be closely watched data on retail sales, while German trade data and euro zone data on industrial production will also be in focus.
On Monday, in the euro zone, Germany is to release reports on the trade balance and industrial production. In addition, the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers is to hold talks in Brussels.
Also at the weekend, Greece's parliament approved at midnight Saturday a 2014 budget hat includes EUR1.2 billion in new taxes, EUR3.2 billion in spending cuts and EUR3.9 billion in revenues from real estate taxes.
Separately, the European Commission's Economic and Monetary Affairs said it would resume technical talks with Greece in January.