Tuesday, the Japanese yen extended its early Asian session's slide against its major opponents in late trading and slumped to multi-day lows against most of them.
The yen reached a 4-day low of 123.15 against the euro and 83.92 against the Swiss franc around 2:30 am ET and this may be compared to yesterday's closing values of 121.84 and 83.19, respectively. On the downside, the yen may find support around 84.9 against the franc and 123.6 against the euro.
Germany's consumer price index, or CPI, rose 0.8% year-on-year in January after an increase of 0.9% in December, the Federal Statistical Office said today. On a monthly basis, the CPI declined 0.6% versus 0.8% rise in the previous month. Thus, the statistical office confirmed preliminary inflation figures for January.
At the same time, a report from the Federal Statistical Office showed that the German foreign trade balance showed a surplus of EUR 136.1 billion in 2009, smaller than the EUR 178.3 billion in 2008. According to provisional results of the Deutsche Bundesbank, the current account surplus stood at EUR 119.4 billion in 2009, down from EUR 165.2 billion.
The yen also dropped to a 4-day low of 140.27 against the pound and 89.65 against the US dollar by this time, compared to 139.13 and 89.27, respectively hit late New York Monday. If the domestic unit declines further, it may test support around 90.0 against the buck and 141.6 against the pound.
Thirty-two percent of surveyors in the United Kingdom expect house prices to rise rather than fall, the January issue of the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors' survey revealed today. That was higher than the 27 percent that analysts had been expecting following the 30 percent total in December.
At the same time, retail sales in the united Kingdom were up just 1.2 percent on year in January, the British Retail Consortium said today, the weakest annual gain in 15 years. Retail sales had risen a revised 3.2 percent on year in December.
Against the Australian dollar, the Japanese yen fell to a 5-day low of 78.19 around 2:40 am ET. The aussie-yen pair, which finished Monday's trading at 77.2, is presently worth 78.02 with 79.6 seen as the next likely target level.
Moving well off from early Asian session's 4-day high, the Japanese currency drifted lower to 83.94 against the Canadian dollar and 61.89 versus the New Zealand dollar around 2:30 am ET. The yen that closed yesterday's deals at 61.0 against the kiwi and 83.01 versus the Canadian dollar is currently quoted at 61.7 and 83.7, respectively.
Across the Atlantic, the US Commerce Department is due to release its wholesale inventories report at 10:00 am ET. Economists expect wholesale inventories at the end of December to show a 0.5% increase.
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