London (awp/afp) – The yen plunged to a new 20-year low against the dollar on Monday, weighed down by the prospect of still loose monetary policy in Japan, while the pound rose ahead of a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister British Boris Johnson.
Around 3:00 p.m. GMT (5:00 p.m. in Paris), the yen lost 0.34% to 131.32 yen, a level not seen since April 2002.
Against the euro, the Japanese currency yielded 0.37% to 140.81 yen, its lowest since June 2015.
While the US Federal Reserve (Fed) has been tightening its monetary policy in recent months and the European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to open the door to a rate hike this week, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) remains for very cautious at the moment.
On Monday, the bank’s governor Haruhiko Kuroda even reaffirmed in a speech that the ultra-flexible policy of supporting the economy would be maintained.
“It leaves the yen under pressure,” confirmed Jeffrey Halley, analyst at Oanda.
Investors will focus this week on the ECB meeting on Thursday, then on the US inflation figures on Friday.
The ECB should prepare the ground for exiting its negative interest rate policy, starting by packing up its latest debt-buying tool.
“This policy change is all the more urgent as inflation is accelerating across the European Union while it appears to be slowing in the United States, and could even plateau,” said Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.
The pound took 0.55% to 85.37 pence for one euro and 0.57% to 1.2560 dollars.
The chairman of the Conservative Party’s 1922 committee, Graham Brady, announced that the fateful threshold of 54 letters from MPs, or 15% of the parliamentary group, demanding the leader’s departure had been reached.
The vote will take place between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time (5 p.m. and 7 p.m. GMT) behind closed doors.
The vote can be seen as good news for the pound, said Samuel Tombs, an analyst at Pantheon Macroeconomics: “Markets prefer a conservative government, and the Tories will have a better chance of winning with a new leader,” he said. -he.
The anger of the British public is considerable, as shown by the boos Mr Johnson received from crowds at celebrations for the reign of Elizabeth II over the weekend.
“The appreciation of the pound remains modest as the consensus is that Mr Johnson will win” the vote on Monday evening, adds Mr Tombs.
The pound’s rise remains relatively limited since it barely allows the British currency to return to its level at the end of the previous week against the dollar and the euro.
Cours de lundi Cours de vendredi
15H00 GMT 21H00 GMT
EUR/USD 1,0722 1,0719
EUR/JPY 140,81 140,30
EUR/CHF 1,0358 1,0313
EUR/GBP 0,8537 0,8584
USD/JPY 131,32 130,88
USD/CHF 0,9660 0,9621
GBP/USD 1,2560 1,2488
afp/rp