Yen Falls Slightly; Traders Focus On Fed Chair Powell's Speech

The Japanese yen retreated from recent highs against other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday, as traders remain reluctant to continue buying stocks ahead of the Kansas City Fed's Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, which gets underway later in the day. They look ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments for further clarity about the outlook for interest rates.

However, traders feel the likelihood of a rate cut next month has already been priced into the markets.

Ahead of Powell's remarks, CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicate a 75.5 percent of a quarter point rate cut next month and a 24.5 percent chance of a half point rate cut.

Meanwhile, the safe-haven yen strengthened earlier against its major counterparts, as the Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled in a speech before lawmakers about his intention to hike interest rates if inflation remained on track to meet the 2 percent objective.

In economic news, data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed that the core inflation that excludes prices of fresh food rose marginally to 2.7 percent in July from 2.6 percent in June. The rate came in line with expectations.

Headline inflation held steady at 2.8 percent in July. On a monthly basis, consumer prices gained 0.2 percent after rising 0.3 percent in June.

In the Asian trading today, the yen fell to 162.35 against the euro and 191.22 against the pound, from recent highs of 161.69 and 190.38, respectively. The EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY pairs may test support for the yen near 165.00 and 198.00 regions, respectively.

Against the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc, the yen slipped to 145.90 and 171.30 from recent lows of 145.30 and 170.84, respectively. If the yen extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 150.00 against the greenback and 174.00 against the franc.

Moving away from a recent 4-day high of 97.57 against the Australian dollar, the yen edged down to 98.08. The yen is likely to find support around the 99.00 region.

Against the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the yen dropped to 89.78 and 107.33 from early highs of 89.41 and 106.88, respectively. On the downside, 91.00 against the kiwi and 108.00 against the loonie are seen as the next support levels for the yen.

Looking ahead, Canada retail sales for July, U.S. building permits for July, home sales for July and U.S. Baker Hughes oil rig count data are due to be released in the New York session.