EUR/JPY slumps to multi-month lows below 163.00 on hawkish BoJ action
- EUR/JPY stays under heavy bearish pressure and trades below 163.00 on Wednesday.
- The Bank of Japan unexpectedly raised its policy rate by 15 basis points.
- Core HICP inflation in the Eurozone held steady at 2.9% on a yearly basis in July.
EUR/JPY came under heavy bearish pressure on Wednesday and dropped to its weakest level since mid-April at 162.20. At the time of press, the pair was trading at 162.90, losing 1.4% on a daily basis.
Japanese Yen PRICE Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies today. Japanese Yen was the strongest against the Australian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.10% | 0.01% | -1.52% | -0.05% | 0.61% | -0.26% | -0.18% | |
| EUR | 0.10% | 0.13% | -1.40% | 0.04% | 0.71% | -0.13% | -0.08% | |
| GBP | -0.01% | -0.13% | -1.54% | -0.09% | 0.57% | -0.27% | -0.20% | |
| JPY | 1.52% | 1.40% | 1.54% | 1.54% | 2.15% | 1.27% | 1.39% | |
| CAD | 0.05% | -0.04% | 0.09% | -1.54% | 0.64% | -0.20% | -0.13% | |
| AUD | -0.61% | -0.71% | -0.57% | -2.15% | -0.64% | -0.85% | -0.78% | |
| NZD | 0.26% | 0.13% | 0.27% | -1.27% | 0.20% | 0.85% | 0.08% | |
| CHF | 0.18% | 0.08% | 0.20% | -1.39% | 0.13% | 0.78% | -0.08% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).
BoJ raises policy rate by 15 bps
The broad-based Japanese Yen (JPY) strength forces EUR/JPY to push lower midweek. Following its July policy meeting, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced that it raised the policy rate by 15 basis points (bps) to the range of 0.15%-0.25%. Additionally, the BoJ said that it will taper Japanese government bond (JGB) purchases to JPY3 trillion per month as of the first quarter of 2026.
In the post-meeting press conference, Governor Kazuo Ueda said that they will keep raising rates and adjust the degree of easing if the current economic and price outlook is realized, providing an additional boost to the JPY.
Reflecting the JPY strength, USD/JPY is down 1.% on the day below 150.50.
Meanwhile, Eurostat reported on Wednesday that the core Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) rose 2.9% on a yearly basis in July. This reading matched June's increase and came in above the market expectation of 2.8%.
Japanese Yen FAQs
The Japanese Yen (JPY) is one of the world’s most traded currencies. Its value is broadly determined by the performance of the Japanese economy, but more specifically by the Bank of Japan’s policy, the differential between Japanese and US bond yields, or risk sentiment among traders, among other factors.
One of the Bank of Japan’s mandates is currency control, so its moves are key for the Yen. The BoJ has directly intervened in currency markets sometimes, generally to lower the value of the Yen, although it refrains from doing it often due to political concerns of its main trading partners. The current BoJ ultra-loose monetary policy, based on massive stimulus to the economy, has caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers. This process has exacerbated more recently due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks, which have opted to increase interest rates sharply to fight decades-high levels of inflation.
The BoJ’s stance of sticking to ultra-loose monetary policy has led to a widening policy divergence with other central banks, particularly with the US Federal Reserve. This supports a widening of the differential between the 10-year US and Japanese bonds, which favors the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen.
The Japanese Yen is often seen as a safe-haven investment. This means that in times of market stress, investors are more likely to put their money in the Japanese currency due to its supposed reliability and stability. Turbulent times are likely to strengthen the Yen’s value against other currencies seen as more risky to invest in.
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