Forexpros – The U.S. dollar fell to a four-day low against the yen on Thursday, as Japanese companies continued to repatriate overseas earnings before the end of the country’s fiscal year on March 31 and after better-than-expected Japanese retail sales data.
USD/JPY hit 82.25 during early European trade, the pair’s lowest since March 23; the pair subsequently consolidated at 83.37, dropping 0.64%.
The pair was likely to find support at 81.96, the low of March 23 and an eight-day low and resistance at 88.99, the high of March 26.
Official data showed earlier that retail sales in Japan rose more-than-expected in February, adding 3.5% after a 1.8% increase the previous month.
Analysts had expected retail sales to rise 1.4% in February.
Meanwhile, markets eyed a key meeting of euro zone finance ministers to reach an agreement on the size of the bailout fund for indebted countries.
Euro zone ministers were expected to decide on Friday to run the EUR500 billion permanent European Stability Mechanism alongside the EUR200 billion committed by the temporary fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
Elsewhere, the yen was also higher against the euro with EUR/JPY shedding 0.47%, to hit 109.89.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish government data on unemployment claims and final data on fourth quarter gross domestic product. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was also due to speak.
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