The Japanese yen edged higher across the board on Friday in Asia on risk-aversion, erasing much of its early Asian session's losses, as equities trimmed gains after the Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said that the central bank announced sufficient monetary easing and it has no particular targets for stocks or currency exchange rates.
While stressing that stable movements are desirable in the long-term JGB market, Kuroda said that massive stimulus announced by the Bank of Japan in April would help the economy exit deflation.
The Quantitative and Qualitative Easing "will lead Japan's economy to overcome the deflation that has lasted for nearly 15 years, and reinvigorate the economy," he said in a speech at the International Conference on The Future of Asia.
Asian central banks and financial authorities are committed to promoting the local currency-denominated bond markets so that the abundant savings of Asian economies can be utilized effectively within the region, Kuroda said. He stressed on the need to build a regional financial intermediary system that is "not solely dependent on foreign capital."
His remarks came a day after Nikkei plunged more than 7 percent on surging yield in 10 year Japanese Government Bond(JGB), which prompted the Tokyo stock exchange suspending bond futures trading temporarily due to excess volatility. Nikkei index shed more than 2.0 percent thus far today.
In order to stabilize the market conditions and curb excess volatility in long-term bond yields, the Bank of Japan forced to inject more than 2 trillion yen into the system on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks signaled a possible reduction in US monetary stimulus in the coming months.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Bank of Japan decided to keep its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged, suggesting that the bank is moving cautiously amid concerns over the recent turmoil in the bond market. Reaffirming its latest easing measures, the policy board said the bank will conduct money market operations so that the monetary base will increase at an annual pace of about JPY 60-70 trillion.
China's weaker-than-expected purchasing managers' index data on Thursday also increased risk-aversion in the market, with the headline purchasing managers' index, an indicator of the health of the factory sector, falling to 49.6 from 50.4 in April.
New Zealand posted a merchandise trade surplus of NZ$157 million in April, Statistics New Zealand said on Friday, worth 4.0 percent of exports. The headline figure missed forecasts for a surplus of NZ$480 million following the upwardly revised surplus of NZ$732 million in March (originally NZ$718 million).
The yen rose to 101.08 against the US dollar in mid-Asian deals Friday, up significantly from early Asian session's low of 102.49, which was only a tad below yesterday's bottom.
The Japanese unit climbed to 152.67 against the pound, adding more than 1.3 percent from early Asian session's low of 154.75 and above its overnight close of near 154.0.
The yen strengthened to 130.69 against the euro from a session's low of 132.40 hit earlier in Asian trading and was also higher-than the 131.86 level, its Thursday's closing quote.
Against the Swiss franc, the yen rose as high as 104.60 before holding steady around 12:25 am ET. The franc-yen pair closed yesterday's deals at 105.25.
The yen also rallied against the resource-linked currencies on Friday morning in Asia, rising as high as 97.92 against the Australian dollar, 81.88 against the New Zealand dollar and 97.97 against the Canadian dollar.
Looking ahead, Germany's final figures of the first quarter GDP, Gfk consumer confidence for June and the German IFO business climate survey results for May are the key economic data due in the European session.
The U.S. durable goods orders data for April is expected to garner market attention in the North American session.
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Forex News
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.