By: DailyForex.com
The U.S. Dollar held near to a 1-week high versus the Japanese Yen during the Asian trading session today, and analysts believe it will likely target key resistance in the wake of better than expected retail sales data from the U.S. Investor sentiment for the greenback had already been positive, as speculators believe the Bank of Japan could intervene in the too strong currency at the next policy meeting scheduled for October 30th.
As reported at 12:00 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the USD/JPY pair was trading at 78.865 Yen, a 1-week high, and more recently was trading at 78.72 Yen, a gain of 0.3% from late trading in New York. The Euro also moved higher against the Japanese Yen, and is currently trading at 102.27 Yen, a gain of 0.37%. The Euro was unable to gain too much headway against the U.S. Dollar, as uncertainty over Spain still dominates investors’ sentiment; the EUR/USD pair was trading at $1.2968, a few pips from the session’s high.
U.S. retail sales came in at 1.1% against expectations of 0.8%, and follows August’s strong rise as well. Analysts say that that points to a resiliency among U.S. consumers, in spite of the ongoing concerns over global growth.