Japanese Yen Falls As BoJ Maintains Stimulus, Kuroda Vows To Continue Easing

(RTTNews) - The Japanese yen lost ground against its major rivals in the European session on Friday, as the Bank of Japan left its massive monetary stimulus unchanged and Governor Haruhiko Kuroda reiterated that the central bank would continue easing to support economic recovery.

The policy board unanimously decided to maintain a negative interest rate of -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank.

The board repeated its guidance on rates that short- and long-term policy interest rates will remain at their present or lower levels.

The bank also decided to continue to purchase a necessary amount of Japanese government bonds without setting an upper limit so that 10-year JGB yields will remain at around zero percent.

Kuroda said that the central bank would stick to its current policy for the time being in order to achieve the inflation goal.

Data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed that Japan jobless rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent in September.

That exceeded expectations for 2.5 percent, which would have been unchanged from the August reading.

Separate data showed that overall consumer prices in the Tokyo region of Japan - considered a leading indicator for the nationwide trend - rose 3.5 percent on year in October.

That exceeded the expectations for an increase of 3.2 percent and was up from 2.8 percent in September.

The currency has been falling against its major rivals in the Asian session, except the pound.

The yen depreciated to a 2-day low of 147.86 against the greenback, down from Thursday's close of 146.25. The yen is likely to face support around the 159.00 region, if it falls again.

The yen slipped to a 2-day low of 170.47 against the pound from yesterday's close of 169.05. Next key support for the yen is likely seen around the 174.5 level.

The yen was down at 148.53 against the franc and 147.19 against the euro. The yen had ended Thursday's deals at 147.54 against the franc and 145.73 against the euro. The yen is seen finding support around 152.00 against the franc and 155.00 against the euro.

The yen pulled back to 94.81 against the aussie, from a 3-day high of 94.21 seen at 2:15 am ET. The aussie-yen pair was worth 94.32 at Thursday's close. Should the yen falls further, it is likely to test support around the 99.00 region.

The yen declined to a 4-day low of 86.13 against the kiwi at 10:50 pm ET, but it has since rebounded to 85.31. At yesterday's trading close, the pair was quoted at 85.20.

The yen weakened to a 2-day low of 108.63 against the loonie from Thursday's closing quote of 107.78. Further drop in the currency may face support around the 118.00 level.

Looking ahead, Canada GDP data for August, University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index for October and pending home sales and U.S. personal income and spending data for September will be released in the New York session.