USD/JPY Drops Under 118 after Kuroda Comments

Japan’s yen climbed after a speech by central bank Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, and the cost of insuring Japanese debt against default fell the most in two weeks. Asian energy producers retreated as oil held declines before a meeting of crude-producing countries tomorrow.

The yen gained against all 16 major peers by 12:30 p.m. in Tokyo, climbing as least 0.8 percent against the Australian and New Zealand dollars amid declining commodity prices. Santos Ltd. led declines among oil producers as Brent crude weakened 0.2 percent in London. Chinese shares in Hong Kong slipped after surging the most in a year yesterday as the country’s central bank cut interest rates. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures dropped 0.1 percent.

The Bank of Japan is commited to achieving its target of 2 percent inflation and that will make it costly for companies to hoard cash, Kuroda said in a speech to business leaders in Nagoya. A U.S. home-price gauge is due today, along with the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, while gross domestic product growth in the three months through Sept. 30 is likely to be revised lower. A final reading on German third-quarter economic expansion is due after data yesterday showed an unexpected increase in business confidence.

Bloomberg

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