Investing.com - The U.S. dollar fell against the Japanese yen during Thursday’s Asian session following the release of Japan’s March trade balance data.
In Asian trading Thursday, USD/JPY fell 0.39% to 97.75. The pair was likely to find support at 97.51, the session low and resistance at 99.79, the high of April 12.
In a report, Japan’s Ministry of Finance said the country’s exports rose 1.1% last month, easily topping the 0.4% increase forecast by economists. Japanese exports dropped 2.9% in February. For the fiscal year ending in March, Japan showed a trade deficit of JPY8.17 trillion.
Still, the export number indicates Japan’s weaker yen policy is starting to pay dividends for exports in the world’s third-largest economy.
Elsewhere, the Reuters Tankan survey for April showed sentiment improved among Japanese manufacturers this month, the fifth straight month that has happened.
Other data showed that Japanese investors were net sellers of foreign bonds for a fifth straight week, prompting some concern that the Bank of Japan’s ultra-loose monetary policy is not having the desired impact on the country’s domestic economy.
Even with the benefit of these positive data points, the yen fell against the greenback as traders turned their attention to the G20 meeting, which kicks off in Washington later Thursday. Traders may be indicating they are concerned Japan will be met with criticism at the meeting for allowing the yen to depreciate too rapidly this year. The Japanese currency is currently sporting double-digit year-to-date losses against the U.S. dollar and the euro.
Meanwhile, EUR/JPY dropped 0.33% to 127.50 while AUD/JPY slipped 0.47% to 100.60. NZD/JPY fell 0.46% to 82.46.