Wednesday, 6 Jan 2010

JPY Takes Heavy Losses Following Finance Minister Resignation

The Yen suffered further setbacks, especially against the U.S. Dollar, as the Japanese Finance Minister resigned earlier today. Most analysts are saying that the resignation will not have an immediate impact on the value of the Yen. Nevertheless, both the Euro and Dollar were up around 0.7% against the Yen in morning trading. Currently, USD/JPY is trading around 92.40 after hitting a session high of close to 92.50 earlier today. EUR/JPY is currently trading around 132.60 after reaching as high as 132.73 in earlier trading. Experts indicate that the Yen will likely not be as strong in 2010 as it was in 2009, and that this is what is responsible for JPY's poor showing in the market. Whatever the reason may be, today's resignation is unlikely to boost investor confidence in the Japanese currency.

Looking ahead, traders will want to pay careful attention to the American ADP Non-Farm Employment Change Report, set to be released at 13:15 GMT today. The report is seen as an accurate predictor of the Government issued Non-Farm Employment Change report set to be released on Friday. Today's report will likely set the tone for the Dollar for the rest of the week. Any figure above or below the forecasted number of -74K, will likely lead to heavy market volatility.