Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was trading close to a one-month high against the yen on Friday, as comments by German Chancellor Angela Merkel supported market sentiment, but investors remained cautious ahead of U.S. consumer sentiment data expected later in the day.
USD/JPY hit 79.50 during European afternoon trade, the pair's highest since July 12; the pair subsequently consolidated at 79.39, adding 0.08%.
The pair was likely to find support at 78.99, Thursday's low and resistance at 79.95, the high of July 12.
Sentiment slightly strengthened after after German Chancellor Merkel expressed support for European Central Bank intervention in order to ease the effects of the euro zone's financial crisis.
Merkel said that comments by ECB President Mario Draghi, who outlined conditional plans at the start of the month to buy bonds of troubled euro zone governments, were "completely in line" with the approach taken by European leaders and urged the bloc to now act swiftly to tackle its debt woes.
But gains were limited as a string of mixed U.S. economic reports over the week left investors uncertain over whether the Federal Reserve will soon announce fresh stimulus measures.
Meanwhile, the yen remained pressured by the Bank of Japan's comments earlier in the week, signalling the possibility for further monetary easing to bolster growth.
The yen was fractionally lower against the euro with EUR/JPY edging up 0.08%, to hit 98.11.
Also Friday, official data showed that producer prices in Germany were unchanged in July, compared to expectations for a 0.4% rise and following a 0.4% decline the previous month.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a preliminary report by the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations.
USD/JPY hit 79.50 during European afternoon trade, the pair's highest since July 12; the pair subsequently consolidated at 79.39, adding 0.08%.
The pair was likely to find support at 78.99, Thursday's low and resistance at 79.95, the high of July 12.
Sentiment slightly strengthened after after German Chancellor Merkel expressed support for European Central Bank intervention in order to ease the effects of the euro zone's financial crisis.
Merkel said that comments by ECB President Mario Draghi, who outlined conditional plans at the start of the month to buy bonds of troubled euro zone governments, were "completely in line" with the approach taken by European leaders and urged the bloc to now act swiftly to tackle its debt woes.
But gains were limited as a string of mixed U.S. economic reports over the week left investors uncertain over whether the Federal Reserve will soon announce fresh stimulus measures.
Meanwhile, the yen remained pressured by the Bank of Japan's comments earlier in the week, signalling the possibility for further monetary easing to bolster growth.
The yen was fractionally lower against the euro with EUR/JPY edging up 0.08%, to hit 98.11.
Also Friday, official data showed that producer prices in Germany were unchanged in July, compared to expectations for a 0.4% rise and following a 0.4% decline the previous month.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a preliminary report by the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations.