- US Market Holiday today – FX markets in Asia a little thinner than normal
- BOJ meets today and tomorrow – statement expected Tuesday afternoon (Tokyo time)
- Lower Saxony – official results give the election to the Centre-left by one seat
- Only one economic data release today, the UK January Rightmove House Price index was +0.2% (vs. -3.3% prior)
- European finance ministers meet in Brussels later today
- The weekend press reported that the ECB’s Weidmann says bond buy conditions problematic
- Amari rehashed earlier comments, saying the government and BOJ are formulating a joint statement and that he is considering attending the BOJ meeting
The Yen opened weaker in pre-Tokyo trading, getting as high as 90.25 but could not sustain the move once Tokyo liquidity joined the market. The Nikkei tumbled, as did USD/JPY as profit-takers moved in ahead of the BOJ meeting outcome due on Tuesday. In a market made thinner due to the US holiday schedule USD/JPY fell below 89.50 (the low was 89.43) before finding support. It bounced to 89.80 before settling around 89.55/70 for the balance of the afternoon.
EUR, AUD, NZD, and GBP all fell a little on the back of cross selling against the stronger Yen, but all bounced well once cross buyers moved back in when USD/JPY reached below 89.50.
It was a very sparse economic data release and news day with a US holiday scheduled for Monday and the results from the BOJ meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
