The Japanese yen that fell sharply against its key counterparts after the Bank of Japan's monetary policy meeting outcome in Asian deals on Thursday reversed direction shortly.
Following a two-day policy meeting, the Bank of Japan decided to raise the size of the asset purchases scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013 by JPY 5 trillion to JPY 45 trillion.
Meanwhile, the bank reduced its credit loan program by JPY 5 trillion to JPY 25 trillion and also kept purchases of government bonds unchanged. The total size of the bank's quantitive easing was maintained unchanged at JPY 70 trillion.
The benchmark uncollateralized overnight call rate was kept unchanged at 0-0.1 percent and the bank lowered its fiscal year 2012 growth forecast for the economy to 2.2 percent from 2.3 percent projected in April. The outlook for fiscal 2013 was left unchanged at 1.7 percent.
BoJ announcement came a week after the markets welcomed monetary policy measures from the central Bank's of Europe and England.
The yen that fell to a 6-day low of 124.06 against the pound and a 2-day low of 97.88 against the euro at 11:50 pm ET erased its losses shortly. Presently, the yen is worth 123.49 against the pound and 97.42 against the euro compared to Wednesday's close of 123.69 and 97.65, respectively.
The yen is now trading at 79.50 against the greenback and 81.06 against the franc, compared to a 6-day low of 79.96 and a 2-day low of 81.53, respectively hit after the BoJ announcement. At Wednesday's close, the yen was worth 79.78 against the greenback and 81.34 against the franc.
Against the NZ and Canadian dollars, the yen is now trading at 63.05 and 77.95 from an early low of 63.66 and a 6-day low of 78.45, respectively. The yen finished Wednesday's trading at 63.56 against the kiwi and 78.22 against the loonie.
In economic news from New Zealand, confidence among the nation's consumers improved in July, recovering from June's fall, a survey revealed today.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence measure rose to 110.5 in July from 105.8 in June. The current conditions index rose 6.4 points to 114 and the future conditions index rose by 3.6 points to 110.
The Japanese currency is now trading at 80.95 against the Australian dollar, up from an early Asian session's low of 81.81. The aussie-yen pair traded 81.81 at Wednesday's close.
The aussie was under pressure after the release of downbeat Australian jobs data which painted a bleak picture to the economy.
Australia's unemployment rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.2 percent in June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said - in line with expectations and up from 5.1 percent in May.
The Australian economy lost 27,000 jobs in June, - well shy of forecasts for no change after adding 38,900 jobs in the previous month.
In the European session, German wholesale price index for June, the European Central Bank's monthly report and the Eurozone industrial production for May are due.
Canada's new housing price index for May, U.S. export & import price indexes for June, the weekly jobless claims report for the week ended July 7th and the Treasury Budget statement for June are slated for release in the New York session.
by RTT Staff Writer
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