By: Barbara Zigah

The Japanese Yen slipped to a 1-month against the Euro and the U.S. Dollar in Asian trading today following the news that Japan had recorded its first yearly trade deficit in more than three decades. Analysts say that rising energy imports and the disruption of the supply chain which occurred after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami are some of the reasons for the trade deficit, as is a strong Japanese Yen.

As reported at 11:08 a.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar was trading against the Yen on the EBS trading platform at a near 1-month high of 77.89 Yen; analysts say strong technical resistance looms above 78.30 Yen. The Euro traded at a 4-week high against the Japanese currency, trading at 101.51 Yen at one point, before retreating slightly to 101.36 Yen.

The Euro meanwhile, recovered and steadied from an erratic trading day yesterday and was trading against the U.S. Dollar at $1.3029, not far from the 3-week high of $1.3063 struck yesterday. Better than expected manufacturing and services data gave a boost to the common currency which was earlier under pressure from discouraging news on Greek debt negotiations. The Portuguese Prime Minister also helped to calm investors who were worried about maturing debt when he said that he had no intention of renegotiating or extending the €78 billion bailout.