Forexpros – The U.S. dollar edged lower against the yen on Thursday, as investors sold the currency to lock in gains after it rose to a six-month high while Japan continued to closely monitor the yen’s moves.
USD/JPY hit 80.07 during early European trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 80.16, slipping 0.16%.
The pair was likely to find support at 79.66, Wednesday’s low and resistance at 80.36, the high of July 12.
Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said earlier that he wants to have one-on-one talks with the Bank of Japan governor more frequently and to boost cooperation with the central bank.
The comments came after the BoJ’s decision last week to increase the size of its asset-purchase program to JPY30 trillion, sending the yen broadly lower.
Earlier this week, official data showed that Japan posted a record trade deficit in January, fanning concerns that the strong yen is having a negative impact on the country’s largely export driven economy.
Furthermore, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said earlier this week that the outlook on Japan’s AA- sovereign credit rating remained negative and warned that it expected Japan’s fiscal flexibility “to continue to diminish.”
Meanwhile, the yen was lower against the euro with EUR/JPY adding 0.17%, to hit 106.56.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release government data on unemployment claims.
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