Article by ForexTime

The yen continued to strengthen on Monday, after being lifted by the Bank of Japan’s announcement to hold monetary policy steady after its meeting last Thursday.

Investors were disappointed when the BoJ decided not to expand stimulus measures and this lack of action from a central bank triggered a 3 per cent leap in the yen on Thursday. Markets were hoping that the BoJ would have taken action to stimulate growth and inflation in Japan.

USDJPY traded around 106.14 yen on Monday, its lowest level since October 2014. Since January 29, when the BoJ first introduced negative interest rates, the yen has strengthened about 12 per cent.

Meanwhile, weaker US GDP figures out on Friday did little to strengthen expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise rates soon. This is putting pressure on the dollar as well.

First quarter GDP data released last week showed the US economy grew at its slowest pace in two years during the first three months of 2016 at 0.5 percent. The figure is expected to pressure the Federal Reserve to be more cautious before lifting interest rates again after it increased rates for the first time in almost a decade December. The main risk event for the US dollar will be this Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report.

Article by ForexTime

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