Yen Continues to Flirt with 100 Barrier

Despite the unrelenting sell-off of the Japanese Yen, market players are still finding that the 100.00 Yen price level for the USD/JPY pair is elusive. Nonetheless, the pair is poised to record its largest 2-week gain in more than four years, and is likely to post its second consecutive week of gains. Since the announcement by the Bank of Japan last week the U.S. Dollar has appreciated almost 6% against the Japanese currency, however at 8% the Euro’s gain on the Yen was even better.

As reported at 1:24 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the USD/JPY pair was trading at 99.69 Yen, coming off a session low of 99.10 Yen which was hit in overnight trade in New York. Analysts still believe that once the psychological barrier of 100.00 Yen is breached, the greenback’s rise could likely eventually go as high as 110.00 Yen. The EUR/JPY pair had struck a 3-year peak as the pair hit 131.11 Yen before retreating to 130.70 Yen.

The New Zealand Dollar was also a strong performance this week, gaining more than 2% against the greenback to trade at US$0.8676. The New Zealand Dollar’s rise follows a hawkish warning issued by the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand who said that interest rates may soon rise in order to curtail a too hot property market.