Strong Euro nears nine-year high versus Japanese yen

Singapore, April 24 (BNA): The euro gained a touch and the Japanese yen fell on Monday, at the start of a week that includes a closely watched Bank of Japan meeting and the last few data releases by the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank. Rate decisions in early May.

The euro rose 0.25% against the dollar at $1.1015, surpassing $1.10 for the first time since hitting a 14-month high of $1.10755 earlier this month, Reuters reported.

Monday’s survey showed German business sentiment rose slightly in April, adding to the positive signs as Europe’s largest economy hopes to avoid a winter recession. There were also hawkish comments from Belgium’s central bank president and ECB policymaker Pierre Wunsch.

The euro’s most striking gain was against the Japanese yen, up 0.63% to 148.3 yen, as the yen came under pressure from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s comments on the need to maintain monetary easing.

The euro moved away from 148.385 yen in October, and a break past it would be the highest level since late 2014.

The dollar also rose 0.36% against the yen, to 134.60.

Aside from the excitement of the euro/yen cross, the currency markets were quieter, as traders waited for the main central bank meetings, the first of which will be the Bank of Japan on Friday, and Ola Ueda will preside over the central bank meetings.

Ueda is widely expected to maintain the BoJ’s current ultra-easy yield curve control (YCC) policy, having reassured markets since succeeding Haruhiko Kuroda early this month that any policy change would not happen quickly.

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“We’re in a pre-ECB, pre-Fed era where exchange rate volatility has gone a bit dead,” said Simon Harvey, head of foreign exchange analytics at Monex Europe.

Harvey said markets are waiting for Friday because, in addition to the BoJ meeting, growth and inflation data are due from both Germany and France.

“Not only are euro/dollar and dollar/yen two of the biggest pairs, but there are a lot of factors that can drive further moves, which are just waiting for a catalyst,” he said.

The Fed and the European Central Bank will meet next week, but before then markets will digest US first-quarter GDP and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data, looking for signs of economic pressures and evidence of flat inflation for clues to the bank’s policy path. Federal Reserve.

Policymakers are widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points at the FOMC meeting next week, though the focus will be on guidance on future moves.

Markets expect the European Central Bank to raise interest rates by a quarter point, with a possible 50 basis point hike. Euro-zone inflation and growth data are also due this week.

Sweden’s central bank also meets this week, on Wednesday, although Barclays said a 50 basis point hike from the Riksbank is unlikely to help the crown much beyond limiting its downside.

The Swedish currency touched 11.475 per euro in March, its weakest level since 2009, and has failed to recover much since. The last price was at 11.33 for the euro and 10.32 for the dollar.

Elswer, the pound sterling settled at $1.2435, and the Swiss franc was slightly more stable at $0.8903 per dollar.

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