The Yen holds gains despite the moderate US Dollar recovery on Wednesday. The USD/JPY remains capped below the 153.00 level, trading at 152.45 at the time of writing, with three-week lows at 152.16 at a short distance ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) monetary policy decision.
The US central bank is widely expected to leave rates on hold and hint at a steady monetary policy in the near-term. Investors, however, will be eager to know what will happen when Chairman Powell steps down in May, as President Trump has already anticipated his willingness for much lower borrowing costs.
The US Dollar has lost more than 4% against the Yen since last Friday, when news reporting USD/JPY rate checks by the Fed and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) raised the alarm of a coordinated intervention to support the Yen and prompted speculative traders to scale down their USD short positions.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump gave the Greenback another beating, praising the current US Dollar depreciation and sending the pair to its lowest levels since late October.
In Japan, the minutes of December’s BoJ meeting confirmed the bank’s commitment to gradual monetary tightening, as committee members see the upward trends in underlying inflation and wage growth as durable. This has offset investors’ concerns about Japan’s fiscal stability, underpinning the JPY’s recovery.