Article by ForexTime

The dollar bounced slightly off an 18-month low against the yen during the Asian trading session on Wednesday.
USDJPY traded to as high as 107.45 yen this morning, after rising from Tuesday’s low of 105.55 yen, which was the lowest level since October 2014. The yen backed off its recent strength during a public holiday in Japan today.

Last week, the yen staged its biggest weekly gain since 2008 – more than 5 percent against the dollar. The Japanese currency gained strength on the announcement that the Bank of Japan held off from expanding its stimulus at a policy meeting last Thursday. The yen is up nearly 13 percent against the dollar on the year so far.

In other currencies, the euro inched up 0.1 percent versus the dollar to $1.1506. The euro rose to $1.1616 on Tuesday, its strongest level since August, supported by safe haven demand as global growth concerns returned to the markets yesterday.

The Australian dollar consolidated its losses after tumbling nearly 2.4 percent on Tuesday when the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to a record low of 1.75 percent. AUDUSD traded just below the key $0.75 level this morning.

Later today, market focus will be on the services PMI report out in the Eurozone and then on the US ADP private jobs report. The all-important US nonfarm payrolls report is out on Friday.

Article by ForexTime

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