USD/JPY rose from around 147.50 to circa 147.85 on the back of Tokyo January inflation data. CPI fell sharply in the month, with two of the three measures plunging under the Bank of Japan’s 2% target. This raises doubts on how soon the Bank can tighten its ultra-loose monetary policy. If you glance at your charts you’ll see the USD/JPY move was retraced just as quickly. Later data showed corporate service inflation holding steady at a nearly nine-year high in December.

Also from Japan today we had the minutes of the Bank of Japan December meeting. These were quite dated, of course, we’ve had the January meeting since. The minutes noted, in summary, discussion on the need to keep policy loose and also flagged the need for discussion on steps to be taken when the time comes to adjust policy.

Otherwise news and data flow was light.

We did get news from China that the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development started an inaugural meeting of the Urban Real Estate Financing Coordination Mechanism today. This sent Hong Kong-listed property developers higher on the HKEX.

We also had news that China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will meet in Bangkok on Friday and Saturday to discuss the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping. Kirby said that “China has influence over Tehran; they have influence in Iran … We would welcome a constructive role by China, using the influence and the access that we know they have, to try to help stem the flow of weapons and munitions to the Houthis.” Oil lost ground during the session related to this.

USD/JPY update:

usdyen wrap chart tokyo inflation 26 January 2024