Dollar/yen holds firm with a small move ahead of the Bank of Japan’s Monetary Policy Meeting.

【3/18Market Overview

Tokyo time, the USD/JPY rose to149.33yen after gains in the Nikkei average. Thereafter, with the U.S.10year Treasury yields falling in after-hours, it slipped to148.90yen. In European trading, USD/JPY moved little around the lower- to mid-149yen range. In New York time, the Nikkei electronic edition reported that the Bank of Japan would decide at the policy meeting on18–19 to end large-scale easing. In addition to negative interest rates, there would be no framework to purchase risky assets such as long-term interest rate controls (Yield Curve Control,YCC) or exchange-traded funds (ETF), and thus would be eliminated. As a result, the USD/JPY fell to148.91yen. However, due to the rise in the U.S.10year yield, there was no deep decline and the USD/JPY recovered to around149yen.