Yen Gains After Japan’s Warning; Swiss Franc Falls
The yen rose against the dollar after Japan’s finance minister indicated the need to curb one-sided bets on the currency. The dollar gauge wavered, while the Swiss franc was the worst performer in the Group of 10.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed, and set for a fourth weekly advance and on path to have the best year since 2015
USD/JPY slid as much as 0.4% to 157.35 before trimming losses to trade at 157.93.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said the government will take appropriate steps against excessive movements in the foreign-exchange market.
Bank of Japan board members held mixed views when they discussed the timing of an interest-rate hike at last week’s meeting, according to minutes released Friday.
Traders are mindful of the growing risk of yen intervention if the Japanese currency continues to weaken given risks of US tariffs and growing expectations that the Fed will deliver only limited rate cuts in 2025; a break of 160 and a move toward 162 could trigger official yen buying, says Jordan Rochester, head of macro strategy at Mizuho in London.
“EUR/USD, GBP/USD attract the heaviest flows around quarter-end and year-end, but we could also see them show up in USD/JPY, USD/CAD,” wrote Brad Bechtel, global head of FX at Jefferies.
“In terms of levels, the 1.2600 area will be short term resistance for GBP/USD before 1.2744 the 50dma and we have good support below around 1.2480,” he wrote. “EUR/USD sees 1.0450 resistance above and a break there opens a move back into that 1.0500 pivot area”.
GBP/USD jumped 0.4% to 1.2577; pound is down the least against the dollar this quarter, making it the best performer in the period.
EUR/USD rose 0.1% to 1.0427 on Friday.
USD/CHF advanced 0.3% to 0.9020.
Source : Bloomberg
