By: Barbara Zigah
Conflicting comments by the Japanese Finance Minister lead to the Yen’s rise and fall in Asian trading today. As reported at 2:34 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Japanese Yen touched on a 8-month peak versus the U.S. Dollar in early trading, following comments by Hisohisa Fujii that the recent Dollar/Yen movements were merely “normal,” and leading speculators to believe that the finance ministry had no intention of intervening in the strong Yen. Later in the day, however, the Finance Minister toned down his earlier rhetoric and disavowed that he would permit the Yen to remain “as it is.” Versus the Japanese Yen, the U.S. Dollar traded at 88.23 Yen, an 8-month low before recovering to 89.55 Yen, a loss of .2%.
Margin calls on long positions on the Pound/Yen cross led to Yen buying earlier in the day’s trading. The Pound Sterling fell 1.6%, and briefly fell below the 140 Yen benchmark, the lowest trade in nearly 5 months. Last week, Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, commented that a weaker Pound Sterling would assist the U.K.’s economy through exportation; those comments led to the Pound coming under pressure. According to a senior currency strategist in London, investor speculation that there would be no intervention by the Japanese government contributed to the Pound/Yen unwinding, and the comments today by Fujii appeared to confirm investor belief.
Japanese Yen Gains/Falls on Fujii Comments
After working on Wall Street, Barb began her second career as a freelance writer at Daily Forex, where the CEO recognized fresh, untapped potential and was willing to give her a try. She’s never looked back. Since then, she’s worked steadily as a freelance writer and editor in the financial services and Forex-related industry.