Yen Weakens Amid Rising Risk Appetite

The Japanese yen depreciated against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday amid rising risk appetite, as hopes that the coronavirus pandemic was nearing its peak and that governments would roll out more stimulus underpinned sentiment.

U.S. President Donald Trump said his team is noticing a positive change in coronavirus case numbers in the country.

White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told Fox News that the U.S. could see the "beginning of a turnaround" after a "bad week for deaths" this week.

Nearly 1.5 million people worldwide -- including 432,132 confirmed U.S. cases - have been infected with the new coronavirus, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. U.S. cases now nearly triple the 148,220 reported in Spain and the 139,422 confirmed in Italy.

Covid-19-infected U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now sitting up in bed and engaging positively with the clinical team, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said at a daily media briefing.

The yen declined to a new 4-week low of 135.37 against the pound and held steady thereafter. The yen is seen finding support around the 141.00 region.

The yen depreciated to a 2-day low of 77.85 against the loonie, new 2-week low of 65.68 against the kiwi and a new 4-week low of 68.13 against the aussie, off its early highs of 77.49, 65.21 and 67.49, respectively. On the downside, 81.00, 68.00 and 76.00 are possibly seen as the next support levels for the yen against the loonie, the kiwi and the aussie, respectively.

Reversing from its early highs of 108.80 against the greenback, 118.08 against the euro and 111.89 against the franc, the yen edged down to 109.06, 118.61 and 112.33, respectively. The yen is poised to seek support around 112.00 against the greenback, 121.00 against the euro and 115.00 against the franc.

Looking ahead, at 7.30 am ET, the European Central Bank releases the account of the monetary policy meeting of the Governing Council held on March 11 and 12

In the New York session, Canada jobs data for March, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended April 4, producer prices for March, University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for April and wholesale inventories for February are set for release.