Yen weakened against the dollar and most of its major counterparts ending its recent rise as Japanese importers took the opportunity to buy the cheaper dollar. USDJPY gapped higher from Friday’s close of 82.30 and opened in Asia at 82.38, rising to a session high of 82.76. The pair’s gain also helped lift EURJPY to 109.84 from 109.34. AUDJPY climbed to 86.71 from 86.19.
EURUSD opened in Asia t 1.3270 and edged up to 1.3283, not far from the three-week high that was hit on Friday. The euro failed to rally higher as investors are being cautious ahead of key economic data later today and later in the week. German Ifo business climate is due today as well as bond auctions in Italy. Also a meeting of euro zone finance ministers is on the agenda.
Meanwhile, the dollar may take a clearer direction following a talk by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke later today at 1200 GMT. Markets will focus on any signs of further quantitative easing.
AUDUSD opened the Asian session at 1.0461 and extended to a high of 1.0490 before easing down to 1.0444. The aussie still remained well above three-month lows reached last week, when it was slammed by falling commodities and weak China PMI.
GBPUSD did little in a quiet Asian session, opening at 1.5873 and mostly trading sideways until drifting to 1.5851 in late Asian trading hours. With no major economic data on the calendar, the Asian session was quiet.
