Forex
Home›Forex›Major Pairs›Yen slides toward biggest weekly loss since May after…
Yen slides toward biggest weekly loss since May after intervention fades
The yen fell about 1% this week to 159.43 per dollar, with traders watching 160 as a potential trigger for another intervention round.
The yen was on track for its biggest weekly loss in three months on Friday after the perceived impact of U.S. and Japanese currency intervention faded, leaving traders to price in the possibility of fresh official buying. Reuters reported that the yen surrendered roughly half of the gains it made after intervention in late July and early August, and it was down about 1% this week to 159.43 per dollar.
The currency was near 164 per dollar before the July intervention, and traders are watching the 160 level as a potential trigger for renewed action. The yen’s retreat is set to be its biggest weekly drop since May, when it also reversed after a prior round of official buying.
The yen’s weakness was mirrored against other currencies, with Reuters noting a roughly 0.8% drop to 183.91 yen per euro this week, the largest since April. The article also links the yen’s longer-term pressure to persistently low Japanese interest rates and shifting confidence concerns around government spending and funding.
Elsewhere in currencies, Reuters said the broader market was fairly steady, with oil prices and Middle East tension supporting the dollar offset by benign U.S. jobs and inflation data that reduced expectations for additional U.S. rate hikes. It added that unchanged U.S. producer prices in July supported dialing back bets on a September hike, now seen as about a 35% chance, while the euro was down 0.2% to $1.1536 and sterling was flat at $1.3489 for the week.