Along with the Euro and the Pound, the US Dollar surged against the Japanese Yen and approached a 2-week peak on the heels of news of a geopolitical scandal brewing in Japan. It was reported yesterday that real-estate related documents had been altered by the Japanese Ministry of Finance which can be tied directly to the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife. That has led to speculation that the Abe government may no longer be able to fulfill its economic policy plans which has in turn impacted the Japanese currency.
As reported at 9:20 am (GMT) in London, the USD/JPY was trading at 107.13 Yen, a gain of 0.65%; the pair earlier hit a peak of 107.142 Yen, while the session low is at 106.255 Yen. The EUR/JPY is trading at 132.1120 Yen, a gain of 0.5909% while the GBP/JPY is trading at 148.6846 Yen, a gain of 0.45315%.
Greenback Higher ahead of CPI
The greenback is also currently benefiting from a drop in FX market volatility which has encouraged FX traders to buy high-yielding currencies. Markets will be focused on today’s release of personal inflation figures from the US. Analysts are predicting core CPI to come in at 1.8% in February (annualized), essentially unchanged from January’s reading. Analysts say that if the numbers are higher it could help sway the Federal Reserve to consider adding in another rate hike this year.