Japan’s Nishimura: Biggest concern now is impact from coronavirus outbreak, USD/JPY takes out 112

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

Japanese Economy Minister Nishimura was out on the wires in the last minutes, via Reuters, expressing his afterthoughts on the government’s monthly economic assessment report.

Key quotes:

My biggest concern now is impact from coronavirus outbreak.

Closely watching effects of virus outbreak on corporate activity.

Sales from Japanese shoppers as well as Chinese tourists are declining at department stores from February, and that warrants attention.

The yen extends its downward spiral, as the JPY bears remain relentless, sending the USD/JPY pair briefly above the 112 level. The spot reached the highest level in ten months at 112.03.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

EUR/USD remains offered below 1.1800, looks at US data

EUR/USD is still trading on the defensive in the latter part of Thursday’s session, while the US Dollar maintains its bid bias as investors now gear up for Friday’s key release of the PCE data, advanced Q4 GDP prints and flash PMIs.

GBP/USD bounces off monthly lows near 1.3430

GBP/USD is sliding in tandem with its risk-sensitive peers, drifting back towards the 1.3430 area, its lowest levels in the month. The move reflects a firmer Greenback, supported by another round of solid US data and a somewhat divided FOMC Minutes.

Gold surrenders some gains, back below $5,000

Gold is giving away part of its earlier gains on Thursday, receding to the sub-$5,000 region per troy ounce. The precious metal is finding support from renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and declining US Treasury yields across the curve in a context of further advance in the Greenback.

XRP edges lower as SG-FORGE integrates EUR stablecoin on XRP Ledger

Ripple’s (XRP) outlook remains weak, as headwinds spark declines toward the $1.40 psychological support at the time of writing on Thursday.

Hawkish Fed minutes and a market finding its footing

It was green across the board for US Stock market indexes at the close on Wednesday, with most S&P 500 names ending higher, adding 38 points (0.6%) to 6,881 overall. At the GICS sector level, energy led gains, followed by technology and consumer discretionary, while utilities and real estate posted the largest losses.

Injective token surges over 13% following the approval of the mainnet upgrade proposal

Injective price rallies over 13% on Thursday after the network confirmed the approval of its IIP-619 proposal. The green light for the mainnet upgrade has boosted traders’ sentiment, as the upgrade aims to scale Injective’s real-time Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and enhance its capabilities to support next-generation payments.