Yen Falls As BOJ Kept Policy Unchanged

(RTTNews) - The Japanese yen weakened against other major currencies in the early Asian session on Friday, after the Bank of Japan kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged as widely expected.

The BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda in his last policy meeting, left policy balance rate unchanged at -0.1 percent and maintained its current bond-yield curve control policy settings.

Traders focus shifts to the next BOJ meeting in April, governed by BOJ Kazuo Ueda.

Traders are also looking ahead to the release of the more closely watched monthly U.S. jobs report later in the day. The jobs report could have a significant effect on the pace of interest rate hikes as determined by the U.S. Fed.

Thursday, the yen was trading steady against other major currencies.

In the Asian session today, the yen fell to a 2-day low of 144.99 against the euro, a 3-day low of 163.19 against the pound and nearly a 3-month low of 146.91 against the Swiss franc, from yesterday's closing quotes of 144.04, 162.25 and 145.87, respectively. If the yen extends its downtrend, it could find support around 146.00 against the euro, 166.00 against the pound and 148.00 against the franc.

Against the U.S. and the Australian dollars, the yen edged down to 136.97 and 89.99 from a recent 3-day high of 135.81 and nearly a 2-month high of 89.26, respectively. The yen may find support around 139.00 against the greenback and 92.00 against the aussie.

Against the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the yen dropped to 83.52 and 98.94 from recent 1-month highs of 82.87 and 98.15, respectively. The next support level for the yen is likely to be around 85.00 against the kiwi and 100.00 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, German final inflation rate for February and U.K. GDP and trade data for January are due to be released at 2:00 am ET.

In the New York session, U.S. and Canada jobs data for February are slated for release.