Investing.com - The yen held weaker in early Asia on Wednesday with speculation centered on the possible next steps by policymakers in the country's long-running battle with deflation.
changed hands at 108.62, up 0.63%, while traded at 0.7682, surging 1.15%.
In Japan, the for March is expected down 3.5% year-on-year.
In Australia, the survey for April is due with a fall of 2.2% the previous month. In China, March is due with a surplus of $30.85 billion seen, narrower than the $32.59 billion seen last month. are seen up 2.5% year-on-year, while likely dropped 10.2%.
The , which measures the greenback's strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 94.02.
Overnight, the dollar rose against the other major currencies on Tuesday, after the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecast for the fourth time in the past year, boosting demand for safer assets.
The IMF forecast that the global economy would grow at 3.2% in 2016 compared to its previous forecast of 3.4% in January.
The IMF also said that weaker growth could leave the global economy more vulnerable to shocks such as currency depreciations or worsening geopolitical conflicts.
But the greenback remained under pressure as recent dovish comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen prompted investors to push back expectations on the timing of the next interest rate increase.
Lower interest rates make the dollar less attractive to yield seeking investors.
Data on Tuesday showed that U.S. import prices rose by 0.2% in March, disappointing expectations for an increase of 1.0%. Import prices fell 0.4% in February, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.3% downtick.
Meanwhile, Japan's chief cabinet secretary said Monday the government was closely monitoring the foreign exchange market and added that the moves in the yen were one-sided and speculative.
But investors stuck to the view that Japan would refrain from any direct action to stem the yen's gains until at least after this week's G20 meetings in Washington.
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Source → Forex - Yen holds weaker in early Asia with next policy steps eyed
