By Suryatapa Bhattacharya

TOKYO--The Japanese yen strengthened Monday as investors were disappointed with U.S. President Donald Trump's comments on trade and the lack of details on fiscal stimulus in his inaugural address.

In his speech Friday, Mr. Trump said: "From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families."

Koji Fukaya, chief executive of FPG Securities in Tokyo, said, "We see trade protectionism when Trump says 'America First' and this will affect global trade and global markets."

The dollar slumped to around JPY113.68 Monday from JPY115.20 in late New York trading Friday.

Many Japanese investors were having a hard time pulling clues from Mr. Trump's speech, which proved light on details for his plans for economic stimulus, said Takahiro Sekido, Japan strategist of global markets research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

The yen was also under buying pressure from exporters who have been seeking the currency to cover their real demand, said Mr. Sekido. For the second half of the fiscal year, exporters' estimate for the USD/JPY was 107 so "about 112-114 quote is still comfortable for them so that's why they are buying the yen," added Mr. Sekido.

The second week of January also saw cash being repatriated by exporters from major industrial economies like the U.S. "These kinds of yen buying pressures supported the USD/JPY drop," Mr. Sekido said.

 
Interbank Foreign Exchange Rates At 00:50 EST / 0450 GMT 
 
                           Latest       Previous   %Chg    Daily    Daily   %Chg 
Dollar Rates                               Close            High      Low  12/31 
 
USD/JPY Japan           113.65-66      114.59-60  -0.82   114.60   113.45  -2.86 
EUR/USD Euro            1.0740-43      1.0701-04  +0.36   1.0752   1.0703  +2.11 
GBP/USD U.K.            1.2422-24      1.2375-77  +0.38   1.2445   1.2376  +0.63 
USD/CHF Switzerland     0.9988-92      1.0019-23  -0.31   1.0021   0.9981  -1.95 
USD/CAD Canada          1.3290-95      1.3317-22  -0.20   1.3320   1.3281  -1.11 
AUD/USD Australia       0.7565-69      0.7554-58  +0.15   0.7580   0.7551  +5.07 
NZD/USD New Zealand     0.7192-98      0.7165-71  +0.38   0.7211   0.7168  +3.90 
 
Euro Rates 
 
EUR/JPY Japan           122.05-09      122.57-61  -0.42   122.59   121.90  -0.84 
 
Source: ICAP PLC

Write to Suryatapa Bhattacharya at suryatapa.bhattacharya@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 23, 2017 01:05 ET (06:05 GMT)

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