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JPY Fades as Uchida Talks Down Protracted Tightening Cycle

FOREX
  • JPY trades softer headed into NY hours, with markets focusing on the comms policy from BoJ's Uchida overnight. The policymaker acknowledged the likely need for tighter policy in Japan in the near-term, but played down the prospect of a more protracted tightening cycle after a first theoretical rate hike. He stated that it is hard to see Japan requiring a sharp hiking pace after rate lift-off, helping a recovery in EUR/JPY toward the upper-end of the January/February range.
  • CHF sits at the upper-end of the G10 table, reversing a small part of the Wednesday weakness. Resultingly, EUR/CHF is trading back toward the 50-dma mark at 0.9400 - tempering the sharp rally off the February lows.
  • GBP similarly trades well, with GBP/USD firmer for a third session, narrowing the gap with 1.2678, the 50-dma. Further progress here opens 1.2673, the 50% retracement for the downleg from the late Dec cycle high. Broader macro newsflow has been few and far between but markets continue to note a possible bottoming-out of the housing market, as the RICS house price balance data improved ahead of expectations, reinforcing the message from last week's upswing in the Nationwide House Price Index.
  • Weekly jobless claims data provide the latest look at the US jobs market, with wholesale trade sales and inventories data set to follow. The speakers slate is again busy, with Fed's Barkin, ECB's Vujcic, Wunsch and Lane as well as BoE's Mann on the docket.

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