Yen Rallies After BoJ Upgrades Regional Economic Assessment

Yen Rallies After BoJ Upgrades Regional Economic Assessment


The Japanese yen rallied against other major currencies in the early European session on Thursday after the Bank of Japan upgraded its regional economic assessment.
The Bank of Japan today lifted its view for all of Japan's regional economies on rising investment and employment situation.
"Many regions noted that the economy had been recovering moderately or picking up, while some regions noted that the economy continued to pause generally although there were signs of picking up," it said.
In a quarterly Regional Economic Report, the central raised the assessment for Hokkaido, Tohoku, Hokuriku, Kanto-Koshinetsu, Tokai, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu-Okinawa.
This was the first time since October 2009 that the BoJ has upgraded assessment for all the nine regions.
The yen that fell to a 10-day low of 80.10 against the U.S. dollar in early Asian deals following Bank of Japan Governor Shirakawa's comments that the central bank is 'pursuing powerful monetary easing' gained soon. The yen climbed to a 2-day high of 79.57 against the greenback, compared to yesterday's close of 79.88. The next upside target level for the yen is seen at 79.3.
The yen approached 6-day highs of 123.98 against the pound, 99.61 against euro and 82.93 against franc, compared to early lows of 124.90, 100.36 and 83.56, respectively. The next upside target level for the yen is seen at 123.00 against the pound, 99.00 against the euro and 82.00 against the franc. The yen ended yesterday's deals at 124.58 against the pound, 100.07 against the euro and 83.32 against the franc.
In economic news out of U.K, house prices in the country increased unexpectedly in June, as prices continued to fluctuate with an even number of falls and rises over the past year, data from Lloyds Banking Group's Halifax division revealed today.
The house price index increased 1 percent in June from a month ago, when it edged up 0.5 percent. Economists were looking for a 0.2 percent decrease for the month
Against the Australian and NZ dollars, the yen hit 2-day highs of 81.65 and 63.86 from an early Asian session's fresh 2-month low of 82.30 and a 2-day low of 64.38, respectively. If the yen rises further, it may target 81.00 against the aussie and 63.00 against the kiwi. The yen ended yesterday's deals at 82.11 against the aussie and 64.22 against the kiwi.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said early in the day that the country posted a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade deficit of A$285 million in May.
That beat forecasts for a shortfall of A$500 million following the revised A$26 million deficit in April - which was originally reported as a A$203 million deficit
Looking ahead, German factory orders for May is due shortly.
At 7:00 am ET, Bank of England's interest rate decision is due. The central bank is expected to retain interest rates at 0.50 percent.
European Central Bank's interest rate decision is expected at 7:45 am ET. The bank is widely expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.75 percent.
The U.S. ADP employment data for June, weekly jobless claims for the week ended June 30 and ISM non-manufacturing composite index for June are set for release in the New York morning session.



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