USD/JPY drops marginally to 108.70 as BOJ refrains from altering current monetary policy

With no major change in the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) monetary policy, the USD/JPY declines to 108.68 during early Tuesday.

Meeting wide expectations, the BOJ left its monetary policy unchanged with short-term interest rate target at -0.1% while keeping 10 year Japanese Government Bond (JGB) yield target around 0%. The central bank cut near-term inflation and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecasts in the quarterly economic outlook while highlighting the downside risks to the economy in the statement.

Even if no monetary policy change was anticipated investors were aiming for a bit more dovish statement ahead of the event.

The BOJ policymakers have recently been loudmouthed about easy monetary policy after the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gained majority seats in the Upper House. PM Abe’s victory ensures the sales tax hike in October and needs for additional easy money.

Risk sentiment remains modestly unchanged as global investors await details of trade negotiations between the US and China whereas noises surrounding the Middle East and Fed rate speculations keep providing background music. The US 10-year treasury yield, followed generally to gauge global risk, holds steady around 2.065% by the press time.

In addition to trade/political news headlines and market concerns over the Federal Reserve’s upcoming rate cut, a slew of data concerning income, spending, housing and consumer confidence is also up for publishing from the US.

Technical Analysis

Prices need a successful run above May 13 now, near 109.00, in order to aim for 100-day exponential moving average (EMA) level of 109.30 and further target 110.00, failing to do so can recall 108.40 and 107.80 on the chart.