Japanese Yen underperforms as BoJ’s Ueda warns of stagflation risks
- The Japanese Yen faces selling pressure against its peers as BoJ’s Ueda warns of upside inflation and downside growth risks.
- US President Trump expresses confidence that Washington is close to making a deal with Iran.
- The US Dollar remains under pressure amid Iran truce optimism.
The Japanese Yen (JPY) trades lower against its major currency peers during the European trading session on Friday. The USD/JPY pair rises to near 159.50 as the Asia-Pacific currency faces selling pressure, following warnings of energy crisis-driven high inflation and weak economic growth by Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda in his comments delivered earlier in the day.
Japanese Yen Price Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies today. Japanese Yen was the weakest against the Canadian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.03% | 0.02% | 0.02% | -0.19% | -0.15% | 0.05% | -0.06% | |
| EUR | 0.03% | 0.05% | 0.02% | -0.18% | -0.12% | 0.07% | -0.05% | |
| GBP | -0.02% | -0.05% | -0.02% | -0.23% | -0.17% | 0.03% | -0.09% | |
| JPY | -0.02% | -0.02% | 0.02% | -0.19% | -0.15% | 0.04% | -0.07% | |
| CAD | 0.19% | 0.18% | 0.23% | 0.19% | 0.05% | 0.23% | 0.14% | |
| AUD | 0.15% | 0.12% | 0.17% | 0.15% | -0.05% | 0.20% | 0.09% | |
| NZD | -0.05% | -0.07% | -0.03% | -0.04% | -0.23% | -0.20% | -0.11% | |
| CHF | 0.06% | 0.05% | 0.09% | 0.07% | -0.14% | -0.09% | 0.11% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).
BoJ’s Ueda said in a press conference that Japan is facing upside inflation risks from a "negative supply shock" in the wake of the Middle East war, which is more difficult to rein in with monetary policy than “inflation driven by strong demand”, Reuters report.
Kazuo Ueda added that higher oil prices would hurt the economy by worsening Japan’s terms of trade, a scenario that typically diminishes hopes of interest rate hikes by the respective central bank. Meanwhile, the upcoming monetary policy meeting of the BoJ is scheduled on April 28.
On the geopolitical front, investors await the announcement of the timeline of the second round of talks between the United States (US) and Iran. By that time, US President Donald Trump had expressed confidence that Washington is “very close” to making a deal with Iran. Trump has stated that Iran seems more willing than before to give up its intentions to build nuclear infrastructure and hand over the enriched uranium.
The optimism of a US-Iran permanent ceasefire is keeping the US Dollar (USD) under pressure. As of writing, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback’s value against six major currencies, trades flat around 98.20, but is still close to its over six-week low of 97.83.
Author
Sagar Dua
FXStreet
Sagar Dua is associated with the financial markets from his college days. Along with pursuing post-graduation in Commerce in 2014, he started his markets training with chart analysis.
