Yahoo Finance Forex – BOJ Keeps Rate Unchanged, US-China Trade Tensions In Focus
Investing.com – The yen slid against the dollar on Friday morning trade in Asia after the Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged, in line with market expectation, even as the U.S. is set to release an updated list of Chinese products to target with tariffs.
The Bank of Japan released its policy statement on Friday, leaving its rate unchanged at -0.10%. The market looked at the dovish stance as bearish for the yen. USD/JPY continued to edge up, standing at 110.68 at 11:12PM ET (03:12 AM GMT), up 0.05%.
By contrast, the U.S. Federal Reserve struck a hawkish tone on Wednesday, raising interest rates for the second time this year by 25 basis points and hinting that it could raise rates twice more in 2018.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.05% to 94.98.
Meanwhile, U.S.-China trade tensions continued to escalate. U.S. President Donald Trump announced a decision to impose “pretty significant” tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods and will reveal the list on Friday. When Trump will activate the tariffs remains unclear, but Beijing has said it is ready to respond.
The dollar gained ground against the yuan amid the escalating tensions between the two countries, with USD/CNY adding 0.22% to 6.4137. The People’s Bank of China set the reference rate of the yuan against the dollar at 6.4306 versus the previous day’s 6.3962.
The dollar has also rallied against the South Korean won in the wake of a much-anticipated U.S.-North Korea summit. USD/KRW hit a one-week high at 1,091.93 on Friday morning.
Against a background of a broadly stronger dollar, the Aussie lost 0.21% to the dollar, with AUD/USD trading at 0.7463. The Aussie has been on a bearish trend since Australia released a dismal job reports on Thursday.
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