GBP/JPY eases from 214.00 highs with the bullish trend intact
GBP/JPY eases below 214.00 after hitting fresh all-time highs at 214.30.
The Yen is weakening sharply this week following news of snap elections in Japan.
On Thursday, the UK monthly GDP report might give a fresh boost to the Pound.
The Sterling is pulling back from all-time highs at 214.30 hit earlier on Wednesday, but remains steady in the upper range of the 213.00s so far. The Yen is showing the weakest performance among major currencies this week, with investors so far unfazed by the looming intervention threats by Japanese authorities.
The Yen has tumbled on Wednesday after a local newspaper reported that Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would be considering dissolving the lower house next week and calling snap elections on February 8.
Takaichi trade crushes the Yen
Investors fear that the elections' outcome might provide Takaichi with a wider parliamentary support to continue her policy of large stimulus and low interest rates in a country with an already high fiscal deficit. This has fuelled a new wave of the so-called “Takaichi trade” consisting of selling JPY and long-term Japanese Government Bonds (JGB).
Japan’s finance minister Satsuki Katayama affirmed on Tuesday that she and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are concerned about “one-sided depreciation” in the Yen. The market, however, sees the possibility of an upcoming election as a significant hindrance to an FX intervention and keeps selling the Yen across the board.
The Pound, on the other hand, remains fairly bid in a calm market session, awaiting the monthly Gross Domestic Product report, due on Thursday. The market is forecasting 0.1% rebound of economic growth in December, after a 0.1% drop in November.
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 BoJ ultra-loose monetary policy between 2013 and 2024 caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks. More recently, the gradually unwinding of this ultra-loose policy has given some support to the Yen.
Over the last decade, 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 supported a widening of the differential between the 10-year US and Japanese bonds, which favored the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen. The BoJ decision in 2024 to gradually abandon the ultra-loose policy, coupled with interest-rate cuts in other major central banks, is narrowing this differential.
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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