LONDON (Reuters) – The Japanese yen jumped on Thursday, in a move traders said was most likely the result of dollar selling after a weak reading of U.S. consumer inflation, rather than official intervention from Tokyo authorities.
The more than 2% jump in the yen following the monthly U.S. data release rang alarm bells for a market that was already wary of the risk of Japanese official buying as the currency has recently plumbed 38-year lows.
Two currency analysts told Reuters they thought the move was more likely triggered by options-related activity following the consumer price report, rather than intervention.
The dollar fell as much as 2.1% to 158.3 yen.. It was last trading at 158.78 yen, down 1.84% on the day.
The yen strengthened across the board and the euro was down around 1.2% at 173.26 yen
“It’s certainly a big move but I don’t think we can say it’s anything to do with intervention,” said Societe Generale’s head of corporate research FX and rates Kenneth Broux.
“The US CPI has been a trigger and it’s more about stops being triggered than intervention,” he said.
(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe, Alun John and Amanda Cooper; editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)
Brought to you by www.srnnews.com