The dollar continued its recovery against the yen on Thursday as it climbed to its highest since June 24 when the shock outcome of the UK’s EU referendum caused turmoil in financial markets. The greenback surged above 105 yen in Asian trading today as expectations of fresh stimulus in Japan puts pressure on the Japanese currency.
Japan’s government has already said it will launch a fiscal stimulus package worth 10 trillion yen but there is also ongoing speculation that the Bank of Japan will announce further stimulus of its own.
The pound was also firmer on Thursday as traders take comfort from the swift appointment of Theresa May as the new British prime minister which ends some of the uncertainty surrounding Britain’s post-Brexit future. However, the appointment of several Brexiteers in May’s new Cabinet did raise some concern, pushing the pound down to 1.31 dollars at the start of Asian trading before rebounding back above 1.32 dollars in late session.
Sterling will likely remain volatile for the rest of the day as the Bank of England is widely expected to cut interest rates by 25bps to a new record low of 0.25% when it announces its decision at 11:00 GMT. Some analysts are also expecting that the Bank will signal an expansion of its quantitative easing in August.
The Australian dollar was boosted today by a surprise jump in full-time employment in June, which was seen as a sign of a strengthening jobs market. Total employment rose by less-than-expected though, pushing the unemployment rate up from 5.7% to 5.8% in June. The aussie jumped from around 0.7590 against the US dollar to 0.7638 after the data.
It was a different story for the New Zealand dollar though, which saw a sharp sell-off after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand made a surprise announcement that it will provide an unscheduled update on its economic assessment on July 21. The news raised expectations that the RBNZ will downgrade its forecasts next week to pave the way for a rate cut in August. The kiwi tumbled to just below 0.72 against the greenback in immediate response but managed to rebound partially to 0.7227 in late Asian session.
The Canadian dollar extended its gains against the US dollar on Thursday firming to 1.2933. A slightly less-than-expected dovish outlook by the Bank of Canada yesterday and higher crude oil prices today supported the loonie.
Crude oil prices gained back 1% in Asian trading today after slumping over 4% yesterday on the back of a smaller-than-expected fall in US crude stocks according to the US Energy Department. WTI oil futures were last trading at $45.42.
Coming up later today, the Bank of England’s policy decision is expected to be the main event of the day but the weekly jobless claims and producer prices out of the US will also be watched.