USD/JPY Consolidates A Little Below Y144

JPY saw some modest strength as BBG headlines suggested that BoJ Governor Ueda stated that there is no specific discussion amongst the BoJ board re: avoiding normalisation at the March meeting.

• That was before wider wires noted that the comment came in the wake of questions surrounding the potential for policy change around the end of the fiscal year/impact on corporate earnings & projections, with his response more focused on that, as opposed to providing a potential horizon re: NIRP exit/policy tweaks. That stopped USD/JPY bears from testing Y143.50.
• Ueda subsequently played down the likelihood of flagging a rate hike come the end of the BoJ’s January meeting, with a limited amount of data due between now and then, pushing USD/JPY back towards Y143.90.
• Ueda then went on to point to the summary of opinions of the recently concluded meeting (due for release on 27 December) when asked about discussions on ending NIRP.