By: Barbara Zigah
With investors worried that the Bank of Japan will again intervene to curtail the meteoric rise of the safe haven currency, the Japanese Yen has steadied against the U.S. Dollar in Asian trading. Earlier it pulled off from a 3-month low, a repercussion of the yesterday’s intervention. The common currency Euro is also feeling some pressure as doubts begin to resurface about last week’s Euro debt deal hammered out late on Thursday by the E.U. leadership. The most recent news in Greece that the Prime Minister will put the latest austerity measures to a public vote has brought Greek worries to the surface as well. The Euro had lost 0.1% against the U.S. Dollar, trading at $1.3843.
As reported at 12:16 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar was trading against the Japanese Yen at 78.15 Yen, off the 3-month low of 79.55 Yen struck on Monday, yet hovering above the intervention level of around75.65 Yen. Trading in the USD/JPY pair is likely to remain choppy until investors’ confidence that the Japanese central bank won’t intervene again returns. Media reports say that that the BOJ bought a record breaking 10 trillion Japanese Yen, the equivalent of $128 billion, during yesterday’s trading day, and more than double the bank’s August intervention. One strategist believes that if the bank does not move again soon, the pair will likely swiftly return to the 75.00 Yen region.