Summary
The yen weakened sharply following the BOJ's monetary policy meeting on 26 April amid dollar strength across the board from the start of the month. The USD/JPY's rise accelerated after the market interpreted BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's press conference as accepting a weak yen. The pair reached 160 during the Japanese public holiday on 29 April, but then turned sharply lower, and ended up moving by nearly 6 yen in a single day. In the near term, we expect growing concerns about intervention by Japanese authorities to weigh on upside, despite the sticky disparity between monetary policy in Japan and overseas and the prospect of the USD/JPY facing further upward pressure.
