Forexpros –
Forexpros – The U.S. dollar moved higher against the Japanese yen in Asian trade Thursday, boosted by a strong performance on Wall Street and the release of data showing a drop in Japanese capital spending.
In mid-day Asian trade USD/JPY hit 77.42 the pair’s highest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 77.38, rising 0.20%.
The pair was likely to find support at 76.29, the low of August 11, and resistance at 77.73, last Thursday’s high.
Earlier Wednesday, U.S. stocks got a boost from the ruling by Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court upholding German participation in last year’s Greek bailout and the formation of the European Financial Stability Facility.
The German court ruling along with Italian Senate approval of an austerity plan to reduce its the federal budget deficit helped ease concerns over ongoing debt problems in the euro-zone.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.47%, the Nasdaq Composite Index added 3.04%, and the S&P 500 advanced 2.86%.
On Thursday, Japan’s Economic and Social Research Institute reported that core machinery orders dropped by 8.2% in July, below economist’s forecast of a 4.2% contraction and down from a 7.7% gain the previous month.
Separately, the Bank of Japan voted earlier Wednesday to maintain its benchmark interest rate at between 0.0% and 0.1%, in line with market expectations.
“The bank commits itself to the continuation of the virtually zero interest rate policy until it judges that price stability is in sight on the basis of the understanding of medium to long-term price stability,” the BOJ said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the yen moved higher against both the euro and the British pound with EUR/JPY down 0.07% to hit 108.80, and GBP/JPY falling 0.05% to hit 123.42.
U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke was scheduled to deliver a speech later Thursday in Minnesota.
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