Yen Lacks Direction as Markets Await Next Big Move
March 21 2017 - 2:21AM
Dow Jones News
By Suryatapa Bhattacharya
TOKYO--The Japanese yen pared back in midday Asian trading on
Tuesday after strengthening against the U.S. dollar overnight, even
as markets lacked direction, awaiting the next big move.
The dollar is at Y112.70 compared with Y112.55 late Monday in
New York.
The dollar fell to session lows versus the yen as Japan markets
opened following Monday's holiday. In early Asian trading, the
dollar hit a three-week low of Y112.26. "There is no apparent news
trigger" for the pair's latest drop, said Mizuho Securities chief
FX strategist Kengo Suzuki. The WSJ Index was up 0.04% at
90.52.
Some investors were reviewing their positions as the dollar's
weakness continued from last week, causing "the dollar-yen pair to
somewhat fluctuate in the 113 range," said Koji Fukaya, chief
executive of FPG Securities.
A lack of economic and financial news, especially for investors
looking to the White House for updates on potential policy changes,
was behind the market's wait-and-watch approach. "We are really in
a sort of vacuum almost," said Bart Wakabayashi, Tokyo branch
manager with State Street. "The infatuation with Trump has
exhausted the market." As a result, real-money investors were
holding back while position-takers or punters, people who trade for
profit, were flowing.
Meanwhile, after hitting a low for the week at $1.0719, the euro
rebounded some during Asian trading Tuesday to get back above
$1.0740. Amid speculation that the time may be soon coming for the
European Central Bank to pull back on some of its policy-easing
efforts, the euro has climbed this month. But amid a lack of fresh
trading cues for the rest of the Asia session, a Japanese bank
dealer said the euro was liable to trade from $1.07-1.0780
Tuesday.
Given looming uncertainty, the British pound continues to be
undervalued but "does it mean 'Go buy it now?' I don't think so,"
State Street's Mr. Wakabayashi said. While the sterling's
volatility hinges on Britain's preparation to exit the European
Union, he noted that it had been a beneficiary from the lack of
real-money transactions as economic and financial news means
investors were sidelined. Overnight, the pound pulled back from a
three-week high as Prime Minister Theresa May set a date to trigger
Brexit, but the currency recovered some to sit around $1.2360 in
midday Asian trading Tuesday.
--Hiroyuki Kachi contributed to this article.
Interbank Foreign Exchange Rates At 00:50 EST / 0450 GMT
Latest Previous %Chg Daily Daily %Chg
2150 GMT High Low 12/31
Dollar Rates Close High Low 12/31
USD/JPY Japan 112.70-71 112.55-56 +0.13 112.80 112.27 -3.68
EUR/USD Euro 1.0755-58 1.0739-42 +0.15 1.0772 1.0720 +2.25
GBP/USD U.K. 1.2360-62 1.2356-58 +0.03 1.2382 1.2354 +0.13
USD/CHF Switzerland 0.9986-90 0.9983-87 +0.03 1.0003 0.9966 -1.97
USD/CAD Canada 1.3353-58 1.3350-55 +0.02 1.3359 1.3324 -0.64
AUD/USD Australia 0.7707-11 0.7729-33 -0.28 0.7738 0.7700 +7.04
NZD/USD New Zealand 0.7037-43 0.7051-57 -0.20 0.7064 0.7039 +1.66
Euro Rates
EUR/JPY Japan 121.20-24 120.86-90 +0.28 121.34 120.67 -1.53
Source: ICAP PLC
Write to Suryatapa Bhattacharya at
suryatapa.bhattacharya@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 21, 2017 02:06 ET (06:06 GMT)
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