Japanese yen continues to fall after unchanged policy rate – E24

Again, the currency is at a 34-year low.

On Friday, the Japanese central bank, which was waiting for the interest rate meeting, chose to keep the key interest rate unchanged at the range of 0 and 0.1 percent.

In March, they raised the key interest rate for the first time since 2007.

After the interest rate decision, the yen weakened further against the dollar and is once again at its weakest level in 34 years, writes Reuters. In the morning hours on Friday, one dollar trades for 156 yen.

– This is sushi without content. It’s just a ball of rice, says Calvin Yeoh of the Merlion Fund to Bloomberg about the interest rate decision.

The Japanese yen, which is considered one of the world’s most stable currencies, has fallen sharply over the past three years. Since the summer of 2021 alone, the yen has weakened by more than 25 percent against the dollar.

Expressed concern

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki expressed concern on Friday about the negative effects of the weakened currency. Business has also warned of the consequences of the yen’s fall.

Central bank governor Kazuo Ueda repeated signals from March to continue bond purchases, a practice that has been done to defend the very low key interest rate.

Bloomberg writes that the central bank is now faced with a dilemma: They will gradually raise the key interest rate, but at the same time without putting too much pressure on an economy that is likely to shrink in the first quarter.

Stock market rise in Asia

In the Asian stock markets there is an upswing on Friday morning, driven by tech shares, writes Bloomberg.

This is the picture around 6.30 Friday morning Norwegian time:

• The Hang Seng in Hong Kong is up 1.98 percent
• The Nikkei 225 index on the Tokyo stock exchange rises 0.62 percent
• Kospi in Seoul is up 1.04 percent
• The Shanghai Composite falls 0.79 percent
• The ASX 200 in Sydney rises 1.23 percent
• The FTSE Straits Times in Singapore is up 0.03 percent