Yen Falls Slightly After BOJ Keeps Policy Unchanged

(RTTNews) - The Japanese yen weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday, after the Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged on Friday, as widely expected.

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

The bank also voted to keep the cap on the 10-year Japanese government bonds yield at around zero percent.

"With extremely high uncertainties surrounding economies and financial markets at home and abroad, the Bank will patiently continue with monetary easing while nimbly responding to developments in economic activity and prices as well as financial conditions," the bank said in a statement.

Official data today showed that inflation excluding fresh food remained unchanged at 3.1 percent in August. Overall consumer price inflation slowed marginally to 3.2 percent from 3.3 percent in July.

In the Asian trading now, the yen fell to 157.97 against the euro and 182.06 against the pound, from yesterday's closing quotes of 157.97 and 182.06, respectively. The yen may test support around 161.00 against the euro and 187.00 against the pound.

Against the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc, the yen dropped to 148.26 and 163.88 from yesterday's closing quotes of 147.58 and 163.13, respectively. If the yen extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 149.00 against the greenback and 167.00 against the franc.

Against Australia, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the yen edged down to 95.25, 87.97 and 110.12 from Thursday's closing quotes of 94.70, 87.53 and 109.45, respectively. On the downside, 98.00 against the aussie, 89.00 against the kiwi and 111.00 against the loonie are seen as the next support levels for the yen.

Looking ahead, Flash PMI reports from various European economies and U.K. for September are due to be released in the European session.

At 7:00 am ET, ECB Board Member Luis de Guindos will deliver a speech at an event organised by Kreab in Madrid, Spain. In the New York session, Canada retail sales data for July, manufacturing sales data for August, U.S. flash PMI reports for September and U.S. Baker Hughes oil rig count data are set to be published.

At 8:50 am ET, Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook will give a keynote speech before the National Bureau of Economic Research Economics of Artificial Intelligence Conference, Fall, in Toronto, Canada.