Ella 
In Asia on Thursday, EUR/JPY fell to around 162.30 after Bank of Japan (BOJ) board member Hisashi Takada issued a hawkish signal on Thursday. Takada stressed the need for the Bank of Japan to consider flexible responses, including the possibility of withdrawing monetary stimulus measures.
Takada, a member of the Bank of Japan’s board of directors, pointed out that despite the uncertainty about the economic outlook, the 2% inflation target is about to be achieved. Exit measures under consideration include exiting the bond yield control curve policy mechanism, exiting negative interest rate policies and revisiting over-scale commitments. Consideration must be given to balancing the effectiveness of easing measures with their potential side effects. In addition, Takada also emphasized that the economy is transitioning to a stage dominated by rising wages and prices, getting rid of the long-term deflation cycle.
Additionally, the Japanese yen (JPY) may find support due to concerns about possible intervention by Japanese authorities, which in turn could weigh on the EUR/JPY cross. Masato Kanda, Japan’s deputy finance minister for international affairs, said the Japanese government is prepared to take appropriate actions to deal with excessive exchange rate fluctuations.
In other economic news, Japan’s retail trade increased at an annual rate of 2.3% in January, in line with expectations and slightly lower than the previous reading of 2.4%. In addition, the monthly seasonally adjusted retail trade rate increased by 0.8%, reversing the previous decline of 0.8%.
The euro (EUR) struggled after weak data from the Eurozone on Wednesday. The economic sentiment index fell in February, falling from 96.1 to 95.4, below expectations of 96.7. Similarly, the consumer confidence index also expected the economy to be weak, with the indicator recording -15.5, in line with expectations.
