Minutes of the bank of Japan’s October 30 Monetary Policy meeting were released, with no surprises.
After drifting higher in pre-Tokyo, USD/JPY traded above 82.60, EUR/JPY above 107 after the release of the minutes.
The elections in Catalonia produced a majority for a coalition seeking an independence referendum, but not an overwhelming mandate, while simultaneously delivering a reduced number of seats to the independence-supporting current ruling party led by Artur Mas. Some media viewed this as a win for the separatists, some viewed it as a set back. What’s for sure is that Mas now must haggle to form a coalition government (conservative CiU with leftist ERC … good luck with that):
- Catalonia election recap from MNI
- Divisive Election in Spain’s Catalonia Gives Win to Separatist Parties
Going toward Tokyo lunch saw the release of BOJ Head Masaaki Shirakawa’s Nagoya speech, with USD/JPY testing buy orders ForexLive had alerted readers to earlier; newswires carried comments that were on-script, there was nothing surprising – USD/JPY nevertheless reacted by jumping 10+ points to the mid 82.30s:
- BOJ concerned about negative impacts of strong Yen
- Powerful easing has had some effect in keeping Yen rise in check
- Worsening Japan-China relations likely to have effect on exports in Oct-Dec Quarter
- BOJ to continue easing until inflation goal in sight
- Monetary policy one way to influence currency market
Apart from the action in the JPY crosses, currency markets were very quiet today; EUR/USD, & Cable saw the USD a little stronger from Friday’s NY close, while USD/CAD, AUD/USD and NZD/USD were all barely changed.
- Australian PM Gillard addressed, and answered questions from, the media about Union legal activities 17 years ago – this was a rehash of an August press conference addressing the same issues. Old news.
- NZ PM Key gave his regular weekly media briefing – nothing of much interest to currency traders.
