Yen gaining strength ahead of G20 meeting

The yen maintained an advance from the end of last week before a Group of 20 meeting where Japan may face criticism over stimulus efforts that have weakened the currency.

Japan’s currency touched a one-week high, having slumped to the lowest level in four years on April 11 at just short of 100 per dollar, after the U.S. Treasury Department said April 12 it would put pressure on Japan to refrain from competitive devaluation. Bank of Japan (8301) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda gives two speeches today, after surprising markets on April 4 by doubling monthly bond purchases, seeking to end 15 years of deflation.

“We might just see investors hold off on adding to yen shorts” before this week’s G-20 meeting, said Mike Jones, a currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand in Wellington. The U.S. is “finger-pointing” about the BOJ’s policy regarding the yen, he said.

The yen was little changed at 98.40 per dollar as of 8:32 a.m. in Tokyo after touching 97.63, the strongest since April 8. It depreciated to 99.95 yen per dollar on April 11, the weakest since April 2009. It was little changed at 128.90 per euro. The euro traded at $1.3102 from $1.3113 at the end of last week.

The U.S. Treasury said it would pressure Japan to avoid “targeting its exchange rate for competitive purposes” in its semi-annual currency report to Congress released in Washington on April 12.

Bloomberg

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