BoJ Governor Ueda’s first monetary policy meeting

The Bank of Japan is due to hold its first monetary policy meeting under new Governor Ueda on the 29th of April 2023. Since his appointment, Governor Ueda has frequently indicated that the BoJ will continue with its current easing stance on monetary policy with targets for long and short-term interest rates. Although headline and core inflation runs above 3% and the 10Y JGB yields have again climbed close to the ceiling at 0.50%, it is unlikely that Gov Ueda would introduce a widening of the Yield Curve Control (YCC) at this meeting.

However, while a lack of action from the BoJ is widely expected, this could still result in a further weakening of the Japanese Yen across the board.

The USDJPY currently trades along the 134 price level, with the upside capped by the 135 resistance level which coincides with the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level from the longer term. A weakening of the Yen could see the USDJPY break above the resistance level and climb higher toward the next key resistance level at 138. This potential move higher is also signaled by the cross-over on the MACD indicator.

Alternatively, if the BoJ surprises markets by announcing a widening of the YCC or an adjustment to the current monetary policy, this could result in a sharp strengthening of the Japanese Yen. In this scenario, the GBPJPY could reverse strongly from the resistance area of 168 to trade significantly to the downside toward the immediate support level at 165.50 which aligns with the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level.