By FX Empire.com
The USD/JPY pair traded in a narrow range early Thursday despite the strong performance of the dollar against the euro and other major currencies. The Japanese yen also recorded gains against most of its major counterparts, due to risk aversion amid prevailing jitters over Europe and the global economic outlook.
The greenback soared against the European currencies after Italian yields rallied to records above 7%, which fueled fears that Italy may follow Greece and Portugal and ask for help package.
The confidence evaporated from markets and risk aversion returned to drag higher-yielding currencies down, where investors shifted to safe haven currencies such as the dollar and the yen.
The US dollar still trying to find a weak point in the yen’s defense to earn some ground against it, but it seems like the only weakness in the Japanese currency was due to the BoJ’s intervention.
On Friday at 23:50 GMT (Thursday), Japan will release the Tertiary Industry Index for September, which had a previous reading of -0.2% and it’s expected to come at -0.6%.
At 14:55 GMT, the U.S. economy will issue the University of Michigan Confidence for November, where it’s expected to come at 61.0 from the previous 60.9.
Originally posted here
