by Chris Becker
The USDJPY pair looks set to break the 100 handle as it accelerates its falls in the Asian session today:
There’s nothing on the newswires to facilitate this fall other than the weaker Yuan fix from the PBOC but that shouldn’t be enough! The inversely correlated Nikkei and TOPIX fell as well, currently off more than 1% as this chart from Bloomberg showing the lower volatility in Japanese shares as Yen strengthens:
Japanese stocks, similar to the Australian share market, are stuck, down nearly 20% in the last year but trying desperately to follow the fortunes of US and European shares which are in raging bull markets. The weekly chart of the Nikkei 225 shows this decline and inability to rally above the 17000 point range:
The ASX200 has a similar setup, although a little more bullish due to the concentration of bank stocks:
If that 100 handle breaks on Yen, the almost always wrong Hugh Hendry might get it right and see it hit 80 before the BOJ panic prints again.