The Japanese yen dropped 0.67 percent against the U.S. dollar in early Sunday trading. The USD/JPY pair began trading at 113.59 on Sunday - a gap of 40 points (0.36 percent) when measured against Friday’s close of 113.19.
The yen had quite a tumultuous session on Friday, rising and falling 0.61 percent in the space of 60 minutes due to a joint press conference by President Trump and Japanese P.M. Shinzo Abe.
While the yen closed with a very small gain against the greenback on Friday, the yen’s losses on Sunday are partly the result of rising geopolitical tensions between Japan and North Korea.
On Saturday, at 22:55 GMT, North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan from Banghyon air base in North Pyongan province, which is located on the west end of the Korean peninsula, according to the BBC.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was playing golf on over the weekend with President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, made a statement on Saturday regarding the North Korean provocation.
P.M. Abe said:
“North Korea’s most recent missile launch is absolutely intolerable. North Korea must fully comply with the relevant U.N. security council resolution.”Abe also said that President Trump & the United States are fully behind Japan. In a show of solidarity, President Trump flanked Prime Minister Abe during his statement on Saturday.
Following the yen's initial losses at the open of the Forex markets on Sunday, the yen lost another 0.32 percent by 6:35 p.m. EST (1.5 hours after the open). At press time, the USD/JPY currency pair is trading at 113.94 (+0.67 percent):
Yen banknote photo by narumi-lock
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