USD/JPY
traded briefly above 145.00 in Asia morning trade. The pop higher for
USD/JPY prompted a statement from Japan’s Finance Minister Suzuki.
Such statement have become a regular occurrence as the yen has
weakened in past months, they usually follow moves of rapid yen
depreciation. Suzuki ramped up his comments to a higher warning level
today, specifically adding in:
- Sharp,
one-sided moves seen in FX market.
I
posted back in early June this:
it’s
a handy guide to use in assessing the threat of intervention.
Earlier
in the session we had inflation data from Japan, that for Tokyo in
June. All three of the measures remained above 3% but came in lower
than median expectations, mainly due to base effect impact. Service
prices were unchanged on the month while commodity prices rose.
Also
on the data agenda today were official PMIs for June from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Manufacturing remained in
contraction for the third straight month while services softened just
a touch and remained in solid expansion.
The
People’s Bank of China set the onshore yuan at its weakest for the
CNY since early November last year. USD/CNH is a little lower on the
session so far circa 7.26 as I post.
AUD,
NZD, CAD have added a few points on against the USD but ranges have
been small.
USD/JPY is net little changed on the day: