Reply #40: Yen hits fresh lows on weak data [View All]

[Ghost Dog]

http://mwprices.ft.com/custom/ft2-com/html-story.asp?dateid=38960.4013310185-881042089&guid={505EC99B-A594-4E32-A7DC-F63F345FBDB5}

The yen hit yet another record low against the euro in European morning trade on Thursday as weak Japanese data eased the way for carry trade investors to continue shorting the Japanese currency. Soft Japanese inflation data, released on Friday, persuaded many commentators that the Bank of Japan will not follow-up July’s initial quarter-point interest rate rise this calendar year, or even this fiscal year. This dovish view gained further traction on Thursday when the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said industrial production fell 0.9 per cent in July, bucking consensus expectations for a rise of 0.7 per cent. Data for construction orders and housing starts also showed worse-than-expected month-on-month declines in July.

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All this conspired to send the yen to a fresh all-time low of Y150.78 to the euro, from Y150.29 overnight, The yen also hit fresh near eight-year lows of Y223.83 against sterling and Y95.64 to the Swiss franc, falls of Y1 and Y0.25 respectively, as well as slipping Y0.4 to Y117.47 against the US dollar, before recovering to Y117.13.