Ella 
GBP/JPY surged above 193.60 on Wednesday to hit a nine-year high as sterling (GBP) recovered while the yen (JPY) continued to weaken despite increasingly aggressive intervention rhetoric from the Bank of Japan (BoJ).
According to Nikkei, the Bank of Japan will discuss “the impact of accelerated depreciation of the yen,” which is a clear warning sign that the Bank of Japan may weigh market operations to control the current trend of the yen. The Bank of Japan is scheduled to release its latest monetary policy report and interest rate decision early on Friday.
The UK Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) released on Tuesday rebounded sharply, rising to 54.9 from 53.1 previously, beating expectations of 53.0. The only economic data of note in the UK this week is Thursday’s GfK consumer confidence index, which is expected to recover slightly to -20 from -21 currently.
The latest data on Japan’s Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate will also be released earlier on Friday. Tokyo CPI inflation as of April is expected to hold steady at 2.6%, while Tokyo core CPI – headline inflation that excludes food and energy price fluctuations – is expected to fall slightly to 2.7% from a year-on-year rate of 2.9%.
