London (awp/afp) – The yen lost ground on Thursday against the dollar, after having rebounded strongly, analysts suspecting an intervention by the Japanese authorities on the foreign exchange market to support the currency, but insufficient to halt the downward trajectory of the currency .
Around 11:15 a.m., the Japanese currency lost 0.38% to 155.17 yen per dollar.
“The yen has not managed to completely deviate from its depreciation trajectory”, and “has given up a large part of its gains from last night”, notes Michael Pfister, analyst at Commerzbank.
The yen skyrocketed on Wednesday, briefly gaining more than 3% and bringing the Japanese currency up to 153.04 yen to the dollar in the final minutes before the fixing, i.e. 9:00 p.m. GMT, the time at which prices are set. end of the day.
Analysts suspect “a new series of interventions on the foreign exchange market” by the Japanese authorities, who traditionally do not communicate, and only provide information several days, or even several weeks later, according to Kit Juckes, analyst at Société Générale.
This rebound was in fact even more marked than that of Monday, which had already been seen as the result of an initiative by Japan to stop the fall of the yen.
“Presumably the goal is to slow the pace of depreciation or stabilize the yen until the Fed begins to cut rates or Japanese inflationary pressures build to the point where the Bank of Japan may begin a pronounced cycle of rate hikes,” says Michael Pfister.
“It is already likely that this week’s total intervention will be the largest ever carried out by the BoJ in a week,” estimates Kit Juckes.
In the United States, the American Federal Reserve (Fed) kept its interest rates unchanged on Wednesday following its last meeting, reporting the recent “lack of progress” on the inflation front, but announced that it will deflate the volume of assets on its balance sheet more slowly from June.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warned at a press conference that it would likely take “longer than expected” before there is confidence in falling inflation. Understand that rates will stay high for longer.
Mr. Powell, however, considered it “unlikely that the next movement on rates would be an increase”, monetary policy being “sufficiently restrictive” over time.
“With the possibility of a rate hike having been ruled out, attention has shifted to the timetable for a possible cut,” said Ricardo Evangelista of ActivTrades, saying that the Fed chairman’s comments were perceived as “accommodative” by investors, leaving the dollar sluggish.
Cours de jeudi Cours de mercredi ------------------------------------ 09H15 GMT 21H00 GMT EUR/USD 1,0707 1,0712 EUR/JPY 166,14 165,58 EUR/CHF 0,9768 0,9808 EUR/GBP 0,8549 0,8550 USD/JPY 155,17 154,57 USD/CHF 0,9122 0,9156 GBP/USD 1,2524 1,2527
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