Japanese Yen continues to Slide
The Japanese Yen continued its slide on Wednesday after traders continued to interpret Tuesday’s last minute meeting by the Bank of Japan, as well as a bullish stock market as a reason to unload the low-yielding safe-haven. The Bank of Japan had said in that emergency meeting that it will allocate 10 Trillion Yen, roughly 114 Billion Dollars (US), to a short-term lending program at a fixed rate of .1%. The program is viewed as an alternative to the quantitative easing policies employed in 2001 which saw interest rates drop to zero resulting in a flood of cash entering the markets.While a majority of analysts do not expect Japan’s anti-deflationary measures to slow the rise of the Yen in the long-term, it was enough to prompt a profit taking selloff. Most of those polled do not believe the measures, which include keeping short-term interest rates depressed, are enough to curb a strong Yen, there is hope that the process itself will lead to a natural decline in the Yen’s value as opposed to a drop that is the direct result of a more invasive governmental policy.
At 11:00PM GMT, the Japanese Yen was trading down .57% to the US Dollar to 87.16, down .63% to the Euro to 131.56, down .94% against the British Pound Sterling to 145.3, down .87% versus the Australian Dollar to 80.86 and down .61% against the Swiss Franc to 87.25.
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