The yen is lagging behind among the major bloc
Major currencies' performance vs the USD this week
Compared to the drop over recent weeks, the move is rather mild but it is a much needed reprieve for the dollar - as it is the second-weakest major currency in terms of YTD performance, only the loonie has been weaker than the dollar this year.
And today's trading so far is no different with the dollar surging ahead against all the major currencies in Asian trading:
The ranges in trading today remain relatively tight - with the exception of yen pairs of course. The movements everywhere else has been tame and uneventful to say the least.
Here are the ranges of the dollar pairs so far:
- EUR/USD - 21 pips
- USD/JPY - 62 pips
- GBP/USD - 25 pips
- USD/CHF - 16 pips
- USD/CAD - 22 pips
- AUD/USD - 48 pips
- NZD/USD - 25 pips
Earlier in the day, we also had a Japanese data point - manufacturing PMI here. While these data points are not often glanced upon, there is a reason we cover them nonetheless.
As in the case here, we can see that the headline figure dipped and going into the details of the report you can see how the strengthening yen over the past two months has started to play a factor on prices.
It's just one month's reading but if it becomes a persistent issue then it will start to weigh on sentiment and create unnecessary problems for the BOJ and Japanese authorities.
But for now, they can take solace that the yen has fallen from recent highs and that can probably give them some good night's rest for a while.
