Yen slides as hopes of December BOJ pivot fade, China's yuan falls
By Harry Robertson and Rae Wee
LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -The U.S. dollar jumped against Japan's yen on Monday after a report said the Bank of Japan saw little need to end negative interest rates in December, contrary to some investors' expectations.
Meanwhile, China's yuan fell to a three-week low after data showed deflation in the country worsened in November.
The greenback was last up 1.03% at 146.42 yen. That reversed some of the steep fall against the Japanese currency late last week, when bets grew that the Bank of Japan may tweak policy as soon as next week.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that BOJ officials have yet to see enough evidence that wage growth is strong enough to justify ending its ultra-loose monetary policy this month, citing people familiar with the matter.
The dollar's rise against the yen helped push the dollar index, which tracks the currency against six peers, up 0.16% to 104.13.
«This isn't surprising,» said Simon Harvey, head of FX analysis at Monex Europe. «It just goes to show there isn’t a free lunch when it comes to speculating on the Bank of Japan.»
«We think that January poses a more opportune moment rather than December. Next week's meeting is going to come in thinner liquidity positions, there isn’t as much space to follow up in terms of navigating markets through the change in conditions.»
The euro was last flat at $1.0757, not too far from Friday's more than three-week low of $1.0724, while sterling up 0.3% at $1.2577.
Investors' focus this week will be on U.S. inflation figures for November, due on Tuesday, and the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision on Wednesday. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England set rates on Thursday.
Economists think U.S. inflation likely
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