USD/JPY traded briefly above 145.00 in Asia morning trade. The pop higher for USD/JPY prompted a statement from Japan’s Finance Minister Suzuki. Such statement have become a regular occurrence as the yen has weakened in past months, they usually follow moves of rapid yen depreciation. Suzuki ramped up his comments to a higher warning level today, specifically adding in:

  • Sharp, one-sided moves seen in FX market.

I posted back in early June this:

it’s a handy guide to use in assessing the threat of intervention.

Earlier in the session we had inflation data from Japan, that for Tokyo in June. All three of the measures remained above 3% but came in lower than median expectations, mainly due to base effect impact. Service prices were unchanged on the month while commodity prices rose.

Also on the data agenda today were official PMIs for June from China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Manufacturing remained in contraction for the third straight month while services softened just a touch and remained in solid expansion.

The People’s Bank of China set the onshore yuan at its weakest for the CNY since early November last year. USD/CNH is a little lower on the session so far circa 7.26 as I post.

AUD, NZD, CAD have added a few points on against the USD but ranges have been small.

USD/JPY is net little changed on the day:

usdyen wrap 30 June 2023