Japanese Yen Heads Lower as Forex Traders Consider New BOJ Head

March 08th, 2013 at 13:29 Stacks of the Japanese yen coinsYesterday, the Bank of Japan reached a decision to keep its monetary policy steady, and even rejected the idea of increasing monetary stimulus. However, the yen is still down across the board as Forex traders contemplate the end of Shirakawa’s time as head of the BOJ. The Bank of Japan decided against dramatic changes to monetary policy yesterday, but many Forex traders think that there is more yen weakness on the way. The new head of the BOJ is to take over for the next policy meeting, in April. Haruhiko Kuroda is to be the new head, and he is much more in line with PM Shinzo Abe‘s aggressive easing tendencies. Indeed, many expect aggressive easing to continue for the the BOJ under Kuroda — or even to be stepped up further. Recently, Kuroda indicated that he would do anything necessary to fight deflation, and that is likely to mean adopting policies that weaken the yen to encourage inflation in the Japanese economy. Today, the yen is down almost across the board as risk appetite remains, and as expectations for yen weakness prevail. At 13:25 GMT USD/JPY is up to 95.7235 from the open at 94.8300. EUR/JPY is up to 124.3550 from the open at 124.2885. GBP/JPY is up to 143.9395 from the open at 142.3850.

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