Yen Climbs Against Majors

The Japanese yen was higher against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Wednesday amid safe-haven status, as a surge in U.S. Treasury yields stoked worries about inflation.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.33 percent, the highest since February 2020.

The rise in U.S. bond yields reflected expectations of aggressive fiscal stimulus and the coronavirus vaccine developments, which paves way for a faster recovery.

Investors await U.S. retail sales data as well as the minutes from the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting due later in the day for more direction.

Data from the Cabinet Office showed that the total value of core machine orders in Japan gained a seasonally adjusted 5.2 percent on month in December, standing at 899.6 billion yen. That beat expectations for a decline of 6.2 percent following the 1.5 percent increase in November.

Data from the Ministry of Finance showed that Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 323.9 billion yen in January. That beat forecasts for a shortfall of 600 billion yen following the 751 billion yen surplus in December.

Exports advanced 6.4 percent on year to 5,779.832 billion yen, shy of expectations for an increase of 6.6 percent but still up from 2.0 percent in the previous month. Imports were down an annual 9.5 percent to 6,103.693 billion yen versus expectations for a decline of 6.0 percent after sinking 11.6 percent a month earlier.

The yen strengthened to 105.84 against the greenback and 127.99 against the euro, from its early more than a 5-month low of 106.23 and more than a 2-year low of 128.45, respectively. The yen is seen finding resistance around 104.00 against the greenback and 126.00 against the euro.

Reversing from its early more than a 5-year low of 118.87 against the franc and more than a 1-year low of 147.57 against the pound, the yen appreciated to 118.52 and 147.03, respectively. On the upside, 113.00 and 145.00 are possibly seen as the next resistance levels for the yen against the franc and the pound, respectively.

The yen rebounded from its early lows of 83.62 against the loonie, 82.27 against the aussie and 76.50 against the kiwi, gaining to 83.38, 82.05 and 76.21, respectively. Next immediate resistance for the yen is seen around 81.00 against the loonie, 80.00 against the aussie and 74.00 against the kiwi.

Looking ahead, Canada inflation data, U.S. retail sales, PPI and industrial production, all for January, business inventories data for December and NAHB housing market index for February will be released in the New York session.

The Fed minutes from the January 26-27 meeting are set for release at 2:00 pm ET.