Ella 
In early Asian trading on Friday, USD/JPY closed higher at around 151.45 for the second consecutive day. The Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) cautious approach to maintaining loose monetary conditions has put some selling pressure on the yen. Additionally, hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials provided some support for the U.S. dollar (USD) and USD/JPY.
Data released by the Statistics Bureau of Japan showed that Japan’s Tokyo CPI increased at an annual rate of 2.6% in March, compared with an increase of 2.6% in February. At the same time, Japan’s Tokyo core-to-core CPI increased at an annual rate of 2.9% in March, lower than the previous value of 3.1%. However, the yen remains on the defensive following Japan’s inflation data and dovish comments from Japanese authorities.
On Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said it was appropriate for the central bank to “maintain easy monetary policy.” Fumio Kishida further stated that the government will continue to work closely with the Bank of Japan to ensure that wages continue to rise and the economy escapes deflation.
However, possible intervention measures by Japanese authorities may limit the yen’s weakness. Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki made some verbal interventions on Friday, saying he would closely monitor foreign exchange trends with a high sense of urgency and would not rule out taking any action to deal with disorderly exchange rate fluctuations.
In terms of the dollar, strong U.S. economic data and the Federal Reserve’s speech on “maintaining higher interest rates for a longer period of time” boosted the dollar against other currencies. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, the most outspoken policy hawk, said on Thursday that the central bank was in no rush to cut its benchmark interest rate and may need to “maintain the current rate target for longer than expected.”
