Investing.com- The Japanese yen gained against the U.S. dollar in Thursday’s Asian session, bouncing off 20-month lows ahead of a possible monetary easing announcement from the Bank of Japan.
In Asian trading Thursday, USD/JPY was down 0.2% to 84.24. The pair was likely to find support at 83.81, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 85.49, the high of April 7, 2011.
The yen has been broadly lower against its major rivals in recent days as traders digest news of Shinzo Abe’s victory as Japan’s next prime minister in last Sunday’s elections. Traders are also widely expecting an announcement regarding additional monetary easing when the Bank of Japan concludes its two-day meeting later today.
The central bank is already under pressure from Abe to weaken the yen. During his campaign, Abe was vocal about his desire for BoJ to weaken the yen to help Japanese exporters. The newly elected prime minister has even gone so far as to say he will revoke the central bank’s independence if it does not comply with his wishes for more easing.
If BoJ does announce additional easing, it would be third time in four months. Some traders are speculating the central bank will announce it is expanding its asset-buying regime by 10 trillion yen. How much more downside the yen has left against the dollar is up for debate as USD/JPY has jumped about 9% since September when it started to become apparent that Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party would cruise to victory.
Elsewhere, EUR/JPY fell 0.19% to 111.44 while AUD/JPY slipped 0.31% to 88.19. On the back of a disappointing third-quarter GDP report, NZD/JPY fell 0.13% to 70.31. On Thursday, Statistics New Zealand said that New Zealand’s GDP rose 0.2%, below the 0.4% analysts expected.
In Asian trading Thursday, USD/JPY was down 0.2% to 84.24. The pair was likely to find support at 83.81, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 85.49, the high of April 7, 2011.
The yen has been broadly lower against its major rivals in recent days as traders digest news of Shinzo Abe’s victory as Japan’s next prime minister in last Sunday’s elections. Traders are also widely expecting an announcement regarding additional monetary easing when the Bank of Japan concludes its two-day meeting later today.
The central bank is already under pressure from Abe to weaken the yen. During his campaign, Abe was vocal about his desire for BoJ to weaken the yen to help Japanese exporters. The newly elected prime minister has even gone so far as to say he will revoke the central bank’s independence if it does not comply with his wishes for more easing.
If BoJ does announce additional easing, it would be third time in four months. Some traders are speculating the central bank will announce it is expanding its asset-buying regime by 10 trillion yen. How much more downside the yen has left against the dollar is up for debate as USD/JPY has jumped about 9% since September when it started to become apparent that Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party would cruise to victory.
Elsewhere, EUR/JPY fell 0.19% to 111.44 while AUD/JPY slipped 0.31% to 88.19. On the back of a disappointing third-quarter GDP report, NZD/JPY fell 0.13% to 70.31. On Thursday, Statistics New Zealand said that New Zealand’s GDP rose 0.2%, below the 0.4% analysts expected.