GBP/JPY turns upside down to near 212.00 on likely Japan’s intervention

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The GBP/JPY pair gives up its early gains and turns negative to near 212.00 during the European trading session on Friday.

GBP/JPY turned negative to near 212.00 as the Japanese Yen gains on possible Japan’s intervention.
Japan's FM Katayama warned on Thursday that they are moving closer to taking decisive action in the forex markets.
The BoE will likely announce a forceful interest rate hike in upcoming policy meetings.

The GBP/JPY pair gives up its early gains and turns negative to near 212.00 during the European trading session on Friday. The pair faces intense selling pressure due to sudden strength in the Japanese Yen (JPY) on possible Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) intervention in foreign exchange markets to counter one-sided speculative moves against the domestic currency.

Japanese Yen Price Today

The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies today. Japanese Yen was the strongest against the New Zealand Dollar.

	USD	EUR	GBP	JPY	CAD	AUD	NZD	CHF
USD		-0.04%	-0.02%	-0.14%	-0.02%	0.01%	0.22%	-0.02%
EUR	0.04%		0.02%	-0.07%	-0.00%	0.07%	0.24%	0.02%
GBP	0.02%	-0.02%		-0.11%	-0.01%	0.03%	0.23%	0.02%
JPY	0.14%	0.07%	0.11%		0.09%	0.13%	0.29%	0.10%
CAD	0.02%	0.00%	0.01%	-0.09%		0.03%	0.22%	0.03%
AUD	-0.01%	-0.07%	-0.03%	-0.13%	-0.03%		0.18%	0.00%
NZD	-0.22%	-0.24%	-0.23%	-0.29%	-0.22%	-0.18%		-0.21%
CHF	0.02%	-0.02%	-0.02%	-0.10%	-0.03%	-0.00%	0.21%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).

There has been no official announcement of possible intervention by Japan in the European session on Friday; however, Japan's Finance Minister (FM) Satsuki Katayama said on Thursday that they are moving closer to taking decisive action in the foreign exchange markets.

A sudden spike was also seen in the Japanese currency on Thursday after Japan's FM Katayama’s remarks, which pushed the cross lower to 210.46, and later confirmed by Reuters as Japan’s first official currency action in nearly two years.

Meanwhile, market participants doubt the Yen’s current strength will long last, as higher energy prices in the wake of Middle East conflicts will widen the fiscal deficit of the nation and exert significant pressure on the currency.

Though investors have underpinned the Japanese Yen (JPY) against the Pound Sterling (GBP), the former trades higher against its other currency peers amid expectations that the Bank of England (BoE) could be forced to hike interest rates to avoid the emergence of second-round effects of higher energy prices-led inflation.

On Thursday, BoE Governor Andrew Bailey said in the press conference, “It would be a mistake to wait to see the second round effects before acting because then it would be too late.”

Economic Indicator

BoE Interest Rate Decision

The Bank of England (BoE) announces its interest rate decision at the end of its eight scheduled meetings per year. If the BoE is hawkish about the inflationary outlook of the economy and raises interest rates it is usually bullish for the Pound Sterling (GBP). Likewise, if the BoE adopts a dovish view on the UK economy and keeps interest rates unchanged, or cuts them, it is seen as bearish for GBP.