Japanese Yen Climbs On Interest Rate Concerns

(RTTNews) - The Japanese yen firmed against its major counterparts in the European session on Thursday amid risk aversion, as minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's June meeting supported expectations for another rate hike at the end of this month.

The FOMC minutes showed that members were not 'unanimous' for a pause in June and most of them agreed that more tightening would be appropriate.

"Almost all participants noted that in their economic projections that they judged that additional increases in the target federal funds rate during 2023 would be appropriate," the Fed minutes showed.

Oil prices fell on concerns that further interest rate hikes may curb economic activity in the U.S.

U.S.-China tensions also remained on investors' radar, with the United States firmly opposing China's plans to curb exports on gallium and germanium, metals crucial for producing semiconductors.

The yen climbed to a 9-day high of 143.55 against the greenback and a 6-day high of 182.49 against the pound, off its early lows of 144.64 and 183.75, respectively. The yen is seen finding resistance around 139.00 against the greenback and 172.5 against the pound.

The yen touched 155.84 against the euro and 159.97 against the franc, setting 10-day highs. The yen is likely to face resistance around 150.00 against the euro and 144.00 against the franc.

The yen firmed to a 6-day high of 95.60 against the aussie, 2-day high of 88.84 against the kiwi and near a 2-week high of 108.03 against the loonie, from its early lows of 96.31, 89.39 and 108.89, respectively. The next possible resistance for the yen is seen around 94.00 against the aussie, 87.00 against the kiwi and 103.5 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, U.S. weekly jobless claims data, Canada and U.S. trade data for May, U.S. and Canada PMI data for June are set to be published in the New York session.