Japanese Yen Falls Below 150 against the US Dollar — What to Expect Next?

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) – The United States dollar gains further ground against the Japanese Yen, as the latter stands below 150, the lowest exchange rate since 1990.

Japanese Yen falls below 150

Japan’s Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki commented on the matter during a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors on Oct 20.

Excess volatility (in exchange rates) stemming from speculative trading can never be tolerated. We are ready to take appropriate action.

said the official.

What Suzuki meant is that Japanese authorities expressed the intention to step into the foreign exchange market to buy yen for dollars if needed. In detail, the government offered to buy bonds worth 100 billion yen (nearly $667 million) with 10-20 year maturities. Additionally, another batch of bonds with equal worth and 5-10 year maturity will follow.

On the other hand, ANZ chief economist Richard Yetsenga wasn’t worried.

I don’t think we’re into destabilizing currency territory yet. There’re lots of emotive words around it, but what problems has it engendered?

commented the expert.

Asian-Pacific markets fall

Meanwhile, the Japanese Yen fell alongside other national currencies, part of the global currency basket: the Chinese Yuan, the Euro, the British Pound, the Swiss Franc, etc.

the Japanese stock market followed the bearish trend, leading companies to lose ground. Moreover, as seen in the chart above, the Japanese Yen fell harder than the other mentioned currencies. But the Asian-Pacific market suffered as a whole, experiencing the worst underperformance in decades.

As CoinChapter reported earlier, China, as the largest market in Asia, suffered heavy losses, with expectations for 2023 declining.

According to the charts, China’s Yuan also slid against the dollar, which prompted the People’s Bank of China to impose a reported “risk reserve requirement of 20% on banks’ foreign exchange forward sales to clients starting Wednesday.”

In a nutshell, the decision made it more expensive for traders to acquire foreign currencies via derivatives, which could hinder the Yuan’s decline.

Also read: US President Joe Biden to Release 15 million Barrels Of Oil Reserves.

Given the ongoing tension in the Asian-Pacific region, specifically the hostility between North and South Korea, the market is unlikely to recover in the upcoming month.

Additionally, the war in Ukraine rages on, exacerbating the energy crunch in Europe, and sending the Euro and GBP down the drain. Thus, unless the geopolitical situation settles, no relief for foreign exchange markets is in sight.