The yen weakened after the Bank of Japan......>

FOREX: The yen weakened after the Bank of Japan sent another dovish signal, the

Bank increased 5-10 Year purchases by Y40bln and conducted a fixed rate

unlimited amount operation. The announcement saw a jump in USD/JPY to 109.66

before the rate slipped back slightly on touted exporter offers. After touching

109.28 the pair bounced back to 109.63 last. The reaction was more subdued than

expected, indicating that despite the myriad of dovish signals, the market is

still not convinced. The weakness today contributes to the worst week for the

yen in 2 months.

- The Antipodean currencies were also weaker, Kiwi slipping on weak Building

Permits data while a compressed AU/US 10-Year yield spread, last at 4.5bp from

22bp earlier this week, has seen Aussie weaken. AUD/USD last down 39 pips at

0.80, NZD/USD last down 32 pips at 0.7364.

- The US dollar index has bounced slightly, buoyed by higher US yields (10-Year

last 2.792%). This has seen EUR/USD slip to 1.2497, though GBP/USD has been more

resilient.