Forex Today: US Dollar edges lower, BoJ maintains status quo
Here is what you need to know on Tuesday, January 23:
The US Dollar (USD) struggles to find demand early Tuesday, with the USD Index sliding below 103.00 during the European trading hours. The European Commission will release the preliminary Consumer Confidence Index for January later in the day. The US economic docket will feature the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index for January and the 2-year US Treasury note auction will take place later in the American session.
Following the January policy meeting, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) left policy settings unchanged as expected. The interest rate and the 10-year Japanese government bond yield target are maintained at -10bps and 0%, respectively. The BoJ also held the yield curve control (YCC) strategy steady by allowing 10-year government bond yields to move up to around 1.0%.
Breaking: Bank of Japan maintains policy settings and forward guidance unchanged.
In the post-meeting press conference, BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda reiterated that they won't hesitate to take additional easing measures if necessary. Ueda noted that the economy was progressing in line with the BoJ forecasts and acknowledged that they will mull if negative rates should be kept once they have the price goal in sight. USD/JPY came under bearish pressure and was last seen trading slightly above 147.00, losing more than 0.5% 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 US Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | -0.34% | -0.31% | -0.18% | -0.53% | -0.62% | -0.63% | -0.43% | |
| EUR | 0.34% | 0.02% | 0.15% | -0.20% | -0.28% | -0.29% | -0.09% | |
| GBP | 0.31% | -0.02% | 0.12% | -0.22% | -0.32% | -0.33% | -0.12% | |
| CAD | 0.18% | -0.14% | -0.13% | -0.33% | -0.44% | -0.45% | -0.24% | |
| AUD | 0.52% | 0.19% | 0.21% | 0.33% | -0.10% | -0.10% | 0.11% | |
| JPY | 0.60% | 0.29% | 0.32% | 0.46% | 0.11% | 0.00% | 0.20% | |
| NZD | 0.61% | 0.28% | 0.31% | 0.44% | 0.09% | 0.00% | 0.19% | |
| CHF | 0.41% | 0.08% | 0.10% | 0.23% | -0.11% | -0.20% | -0.21% |
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 Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (quote).
NZD/USD gathered bullish momentum and climbed above 0.6100 on Tuesday. In the early trading hours of the Asian session on Tuesday, Statistics New Zealand will release the Consumer Price Index for the fourth quarter.
EUR/USD registered small daily losses on Monday but regained its traction early Tuesday. At the time of press, the pair was trading in positive territory above 1.0900.
Following Monday's indecisive action, GBP/USD turned north and advanced toward 1.2750 in the European morning on Tuesday. The data from the UK revealed that Public Sector Net Borrowing was £6.8 billion in December, compared to £12.7 billion in November.
Gold fluctuated in a tight channel slightly above $2,020 on Monday and closed the day marginally lower. XAU/USD gathered bullish momentum and climbed back above $2,030.