By: Barbara Zigah
The U.S. Dollar and the single currency Euro moved up against the Japanese Yen in Asian trading today on the release of strong economic data from China which showed that industrial output rose more than 19% from the same period the previous year. In other key data, it was revealed that the CPI (Consumer Price Index) rose by .6% last month, the first increase in almost a year. Investor optimism that China’s support of the worldwide economic recovery is well underway benefited the Dollar and Euro and suppressed the low-yielding Yen. As reported at 2:44 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, in intraday trading, the U.S. Dollar climbed to 88.79 Yen, while the Euro moved up against the Yen to 130.73 Yen. While most market players viewed the strong Chinese data in a positive light, there remains concern that a policy of monetary tightening is forthcoming. In the interim, though, market players continue to buy into higher-risk assets.
Economic indicators on retail sales and consumer confidence from the United States are expected to be released later today, and a strong report will trigger further rises against the Japanese Yen. Analysts predict a .6% increase in retail sales, continuing the upward trend of last month; consumer sentiment is also predicted to have gained from the previous month, with a Bloomberg survey of predicting a rise of 1.4% from November.
Japanese Yen Slips versus U.S. Dollar and Euro on Strong Chinese Data
Barbara Zigah