By: Barbara Zigah
Market attention focuses on the Asian market today with investors speculating that the Bank of Japan could today intervene in the Japanese Yen’s rise. Given that, trading in the Yen was somewhat subdued with investors treading cautiously, nervous about holding the currency for too long. As reported at 2:46 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar moved higher against the Japanese Yen, trading at 76.78 Japanese Yen, moving farther away from last Friday’s record low of 75.94 Yen. The greenback had earlier spiked to 77.23 Yen, a 1½ week high, speculation circulated that the spike could have been triggered by U.S. bank bids.
The Japanese Finance Minister cautioned markets today that the government would take swift action against speculative moves, confirming Saturday’s media report by the Nikkei Daily. Traders are eyeing the 76.00 Yen level, and expect a volatile week in the currency given that many Japanese exporters will be trying to settle their accounts by the end of the month. Nonetheless, even with an intervention, markets collective concern over global growth is driving them on to the safe haven currencies such as the Yen and the Swiss Franc, much to the chagrin of their respective governments.