Ratings agency Fitch cut its rating on nine Japanese life insurance companies and left the outlook for all of them at negative. Counter-intuitively, bad corporate news for Japan tends to support the JPY rather than undermine it as Japanese firms tend to turn inwards during times of stress, reducing overseas investment.
USD/JPY dipped into the 98.80s from just above 99.00 after the news. We trade now at 98.84.
