USD/JPY – Yen weakness prompts warning from Tokyo

The Japanese yen is down for a third straight day and has declined 1.5% this week. USD/JPY has risen 0.43% on the day and is trading at 155.35 at the time of writing. Early Thursday, the BoJ will release the Summary of Opinions from the April meeting.

Japanese officials remain mum about suspected interventions on the currency markets last week. The yen broke below the 160 line before recovering and surged 3.4% last week. However, the yen’s strength did not take long to dissipate and has dropped below the 150 level today. Previous interventions by Tokyo boosted the yen for only a short time and that appears to be the trend again.

Tokyo responds to yen’s descent

The Bank of Japan and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) weighed into the yen crisis earlier today. BoJ Governor Ueda said the central bank could take monetary action if the yen’s depreciation has a significant effect on prices. Ueda stated his readiness to tighten policy, saying that if inflation was higher than expected, it would be appropriate to adjust interest rates. Ueda’s remarks may be an attempt to provide the yen with a boost by sending a message that further rate hikes are on the table if inflation moves higher.

Finance Minister Suzuki expressed “strong concern” over the weak yen and warned that he was ready to intervene to boost the yen. It seems questionable whether the warning will have much effect. The yen posted strong gains last week after suspected interventions but has already coughed up close to half of those gains. Barring another intervention, the yen could be on its way back to the 160 level.

USD/JPY Technical

• USD/JPY is testing resistance at 155.35. Above, there is resistance at 155.91
• There is support at 155.01 and 154.43

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