LONDON: The US dollar struggles to hold above 123 handle versus the Japanese currency at Tokyo open, with USD/JPY defending mild gains, as markets moved past US data-led choppiness and now shift their focus towards Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) monetary policy meeting due later this session.
Currently, the USD/JPY pair trades 0.10% higher at 123.07, retreating from one-week lows of 122.49 reached in the previous session. The USD/JPY pair extends its recovery from one week lows reached on Thursday and remains supported above 123 levels as markets now eagerly await the BOJ rate decision followed by BOJ’s Governor Kuroda’s comments on the exchange rate, especially after his recent remarks on the yen, which caused nearly 200 pips stir in USD/JPY which pulled back the Japanese currency from 13-yr slump.
The dollar-yen pair also receives some support from the latest upbeat manufacturing, inflation and employment data from the US which once again the recent strength signs of seen in the US economic recovery. The US dollar index, measuring the relative strength of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies trades muted at 94.21, recovering from fresh four week lows reached at 93.71 on Thursday.
