The Japanese Yen fell broadly during the Asian trading session while investors consider the next probable Bank of Japan governor who will be called to act as the government’s puppet in their quest to bring the Japanese economy back to health. Yesterday, Masaaki Shirakawa, the current BOJ governor, announced his intent to resign the position effective March 19th, more than a month before the end of the five-year term he had originally signed on for. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been very vocal about his own plans to install a governor who will act more aggressively to stimulate the Japanese economy.
Analysts say that the Yen’s intentional manipulation and subsequent weakening is likely to continue until the new 2% inflation target is met and the Japanese government is satisfied, and despite some rumblings from Germany and elsewhere in Asia, governments don’t appear to be too concerned about it.
As reported at 2:03 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the USD/JPY pair traded at 93.91 Yen, a new 33-month high for the U.S. Dollar and not far from the 2010 high of 94.99 Yen; recently, the pair was trading at 93.77 Yen, a gain of 0.1% from New York late trading. Meanwhile, the EUR/JPY pair was also trading 0.1% higher at 127.40 Yen, and had earlier traded at 127.63 Yen, edging closer to the 2010 peak of 134.37 Yen.