The U.S. Dollar was facing steady pressure against the Japanese Yen after slipping more than 1% on Wednesday on renewed expectations that Fed stimulus measures might not be withdrawn in the short term. Ben Bernanke, the Fed chief, essentially confirmed last week that the central bank might not be making that decision at anytime during the next several policy meetings, and that upcoming economic data will be the determinant. Markets had been hopeful that the recent improvement in U.S. data points would lead to the Fed’s conclusion that QE measures could be withdrawn sooner rather than later but the Fed seems to believe that a wait-and-see attitude remains prudent.
As reported at 12:42 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the USD/JPY pair was trading 0.2% lower at 100.90 Yen, recovering slightly from the 100.585 Yen low which had been hit on the EBS trading platform during the previous session. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback’s strength against its major rivals, also shed 0.1% to trade at 83.594 .DXY, moving away from last week’s 3-year peak of 84.498 .DXY. Trading at $1.2944, the EUR/USD pair held relatively steady and close to a 1-week peak of $1.2998 which had been established just over a week ago.