The EUR/JPY pair capitalizes on the expansionary monetary policy stance of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) and the Eurozone data. The cross extended gains to near 161.00 after the Eurostat reported that the preliminary Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for October softened more than expected. Monthly headline inflation grew nominally by 0.1% against 0.3% growth in September. The annual headline HICP softened significantly to 2.9% against expectations of 3.1% and the former release of 4.3%. The energy prices in the trading bloc softened by more than 11%, compared with a 4.6% decline in September.
The monthly core HICP that doesn’t include food and energy prices grew at a steady pace of 0.2%. Annually, the core HICP dropped 4.2% YoY in October, compared with September’s 4.5% uptick. The market consensus was for 4.2% acceleration. On the GDP front, the Eurozone economy registered a de-growth of 0.1% in the July-September quarter against 0.1% growth in the Q2 of 2023. Investors forecasted a stagnant performance amid a deteriorating demand environment due to the inability of the economy to absorb the consequences of higher interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB). The Japanese Yen witnessed a sharp fall as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) kept interest rates unchanged negatively at 0.1%. However, the BoJ tweaked its Yield Curve Control (YCC) by redefining 1.0% as an “upper bound” in order to provide more room for flexibility. BoJ Ueda commented that an improvement in the YCC flexibility was appropriate. The BoJ is expected to keep monetary policy easy for longer to ensure inflation above 2% should be supported by decent wage growth.
