Yen braces for BOJ decision with risk events aplenty
yen hovered near a 2-1/2-month high on Wednesday ahead of a key Bank of Japan (BOJ) policy decision where the central bank is set to detail plans to taper its huge bond buying and a rate hike is on the cards.
Wednesday looked set to be a busy day for markets, with China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) data and Australian consumer price figures also due during the Asian session.
That is followed by inflation readings in France and the wider euro zone later in the day, alongside the Federal Reserve's policy decision, which takes centre stage. Escalating geopolitical tensions also cast a cloud over markets.
With plenty of risk events to mark the month-end, currency moves were largely subdued in early Asia trade as investors were hesitant to take on fresh positions.
Still, the yen eked out a slight gain to last stand 0.06% higher at 152.65 per dollar, after having jumped 0.8% in the previous session in the wake of news reports that said the BOJ is mulling raising short-term rates to around 0.25%.
The Japanese currency looked set to end the month with an over 5% gain, helped by Tokyo's bouts of intervention and the massive unwinding of short-yen carry trades in anticipation of Wednesday's BOJ outcome.
«We believe that the BOJ likely will make significant headway on its exit from unorthodox policy at the July meeting by reducing bond purchases and hiking interest rates,» said Gregor Hirt, global CIO for multi asset at Allianz Global Investors. «We anticipate that the BOJ will increase interest rates to
