Products You May Like
Forex news for Asia trading
for Friday 18
December 2020
The Bank of Japan concluded
its final monetary policy meting for 2020 today with an ‘as
expected’ announcement of no changes to the major planks of
monetary easing policy but an extension of funding support program to
firms (via banks) that was introduced earlier this year in response
to the coronavirus pandemic economic impact (specifically the cash
flow squeeze on hard-hit businesses). The package was scheduled to
conclude in March 2021 but was given a 6-month extension today
through to September (and with further to come if the BOJ assesses it
as necessary).
The
yen weakened from early Tokyo time right through to the BOJ
announcement of its decision. USD/JPY has traded to a high circa
103.43 and as of posting has barely pulled back at all from there.
Yen
was not only weak currency against the dollar, though, EUR, GBP, AUD,
NZD, CAD have all fallen away to varying extents. Gold too has
dropped back from its US Thursday high, it touched below 1890 here
during the session. The widespread USD strength (albeit in the usual
limited Asian ranges) was not triggered by any obvious catalyst,
although niggles surrounding the distribution of the Pfizer vaccine
in the US may have played some role. This does need to be balanced
against news that it appears Moderna’s vaccine candidate will
(almost certainly) get FDA emergency approval Friday US time.
Bitcoin hovered around 23K.