The safe haven Japanese Yen edged closer to a 7-year trough versus the U.S. Dollar as speculation continues to swirl that the government is going to soon call for a snap election. If Shinzo Abe is reelected then, as analysts believe he is likely to be, he will come in with an even bigger mandate and could use that to push through another series of policies designed to grow the stagnant Japanese economy, including one which would postpone an increase in the country’s sales tax.
As reported at 9:04 a.m. (GMT) in London, the USD/JPY was trading higher at 115.70 Yen, a gain of 0.2% and moving closer to the 7-year peak struck on Tuesday when the pair hit 116.11 Yen. The EUR/JPY also traded higher at 144.15 Yen, an increase of 0.4%.
Reserve Bank of Australia Ready to Intervene
IN Australia, the central bank there hinted at the possibility of intervening in the Aussie’s rise, which was sufficient for investors to send the Aussie Dollar lower with the AUD/USD pair traded at a low of $0.8670 before later recovering to $0.8722, essentially unchanged for the trading day. The Reserve Bank of Australia said that they view the Australian Dollar as overviewed and told investors that it wouldn’t hesitate to intervene if necessary.